Post Office scandal: Chesterfield dad wrongly convicted of £208,000 theft when working as sub postmaster demands jail for culprits - in wake of television drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office

Harjinder Butoy, who lives in Chesterfield, said: "I'm waiting for someone to be severely punished on the Post Office side, sent to prison the way I was. Someone needs to be charged with fraud or hiding evidence."

His comments were made in the wake of television drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office which highlighted a scandal in which 700 sub postmasters and sub postmistresses were wrongly prosecuted.

Harjinder was running the Forest Side Sub Post Office in Sutton in Ashfield when the Horizon computerised accounting system, developed by Japanese technology company Fujitsu, was implemented. He said: "I was always in shortfall by £300 every week. Then all of a sudden I had this audit with a security team. An hour and a half into it, CID were outside saying 'you're under arrest for stealing £208,000'. I was absolutely gobsmacked because a week before that we had an audit and I passed.

"The day I was found guilty, my business fell through, the property we were living in was behind the shop so we had to shut all that for my wife's safety. She left that house and moved into my parents home in Chesterfield with our three kids."

Harjinder was given a prison sentence of three years and three months in 2007 and was initially jailed in Nottingham before he was transferred to an open prison in Boston, Lincolnshire.

He was released from prison for a crime he didn't commit after 18 months. Speaking about his release, Harjinder said: "The reality really hits you when you come to your dad's house and you think 'I've lost my own house, my own business - I've got nothing left; I lost all my confidence."

In 2021 Harjinder's conviction was quashed and he remains one of only 93 postmasters to have had their name cleared by a Court of Appeal. The court accepted findings that bugs, errors, and defects in Horizon caused discrepancies and shortfalls in branch accounts and that the unreliable Horizon data meant there was no basis for prosecution. Harjinder said: "When myself and other colleagues got our conviction overturned, the judge said it was the biggest miscarriage of justice."

Harjinder, 47, is still fighting for full compensation and to date has only received an interim payment. He said: "The lawyers on the other side want to negotiate down, they don't really know what we've been through. A lot of postmasters have given up hope, even I did over the years. I was chucking my paperwork to one side saying I'm not going to get anywhere with this - it's hard work and I don't know how to prove it.

"It's been a nightmare - I'm always thinking about it. I'm really happy that the television programme has come out so people know the truth. They've read what we've been through in newspapers and in the media but I think the drama's helped more because they can see the reality of it, see exactly what we've been through.

"The TV series was 101 percent accurate, all the speeches and statements on it are recorded interviews. Watching it brings back some bad memories.

"Why haven't any arrests been made when all the evidence is there? The government is just as bad as the Post Office; they come on television and say they are going to do this and do that for the postmasters but the reality is that nothing is happening."

Paula Vennells, who was chief executive of the Government-owned Post Office when the 700 employees were wrongly prosecuted, announced this week that she is handing back the CBE she was awarded in 2019. Harjinder said: "She should have handed it in years ago. Why didn't the Government strip her of it when myself and other colleagues got our conviction overturned?"

Harjinder lives with his wife Balbinder and their children aged 19 to 24 in a rented house. He said: "I've not worked since leaving prison. I'm always applying for other jobs, without much luck. It's hard work to keep going."

The Post Office has announced that offers have been made to all 2,417 current or former postmasters in the Horizon Shortfall Scheme. There is no cap on the amount of compensation which is able to be paid out to victims.

In December, those with overturned convictions who received full and final compensation reached 25 following the Government’s announcement of ‘upfront’ offers of £600,000. For the Overturned Convictions and Horizon Shortfall Schemes, so far £124.7 million in compensation has been paid.

Post Office chief executive Nick Read said: “Our efforts to rectify the wrongs of the past include paying full and fair compensation supported by our shareholder, the UK Government. We hope that the ITV drama will raise further awareness and encourage anyone affected who has not yet come forward to seek the redress and compensation they deserve.”