Asubpostmaster who was "bankrupted by the actions of the Post Office" has vowed to the Horizon IT inquiry that he will see any prosecuted parties in court following the death of his wife. Between 2000 and 2014, hundreds of subpostmasters and subpostmistresses were prosecuted based on information from the accounting system, which saw workers wrongly accused of theft, fraud and false accounting.
Some of those wrongly branded criminals were humiliated and turned into pariahs; received jailed sentences or tragically died before clearing their names. Years later, in December 2019, a High Court judge ruled that the system contained a number of "bugs, errors and defects" and there was a "material risk" that shortfalls in Post Office branch accounts were in fact caused by it.
Since then, many subpostmasters and subpostmistresses have had their criminal convictions overturned. One subpostmaster, 73-year-old Francis Maye, and his wife Veronica Maye were made bankrupt in October 2012 after they tried to repay alleged shortfalls and make good balances on the Horizon system.
The chairman of the Horizon IT inquiry, Sir Wyn Williams, sadly announced the death of Veronica Maye on Wednesday. Her husband, who was based at the Bidford-upon-Avon Post Office in Warwickshire from 2001 until 2010, has now issued a statement saying he believed the Post Office was "trying to kick the can down the road until we are all dead."
Following the death of his wife, Mr Maye issued a statement through Sam Stein KC, who represents 153 victims in the scandal, in which he said he wanted senior people at the Post Office and developer Fujitsu to be "held to account and taken to court". Speaking about the death of Mrs Maye, Mr Stein said: "Veronica's health was affected by the financial state that was left for her and her husband to deal with after they were made bankrupt by the actions of the Post Office.
"Francis says when they lost their home as a result of the Post Office's actions, Veronica worked multiple jobs to maintain them. He found it extremely difficult to get any work anywhere because the Post Office wouldn't give him a reference."
Reading extracts of Mr Maye's statement following his wife's death, Mr Stein continued: "He's not in good health but he would like to be able to live as comfortably as possible in his final years. He says 'I'd like the senior people at the Post Office and Fujitsu to be held to account and taken to court. They knew the system was wrong'.
"He knows that he and other litigants and core participants are in good hands with this inquiry but he feels the Post Office is trying to 'kick the can down the road until we are all dead'. The deadline for compensation of August 2024 is plain wrong, he says.
"He believes that the Post Office should not be able to set that date. Everything is always dictated by the Post Office, that's the way he feels.
'If any of the leaders of the Post Office are taken to court, I will be at the court, he says. He hopes that doesn't sound vicious, but he hopes that the little man will win out in the end."
The inquiry previously heard Mr Maye received an interim compensation payment just before Christmas but his trustee in bankruptcy took "a lot of that award". Phase four of the inquiry, which will look into the prosecutions of subpostmasters and subpostmistresses, is set to begin on June 6.
Last year, the widow of a Post Office manager who died fighting for his reputation told how she locked herself in the bathroom and cut off all her hair after being hit with a confiscation order. Julian Wilson, who ran a post office at Astwood Bank, on the outskirts of Redditch, died of bowel cancer in August 2016 before his conviction was overturned.
After he was found guilty of false accounting, Julian was handed 300 hours of community service, made to clean graves and left unable to find work. Wife Karen was also forced to pawn her engagement ring and sell items in a car boot sale.