First individual Horizon victim to sue Post Office and Fujitsu

Former sub-postmaster Lee Castleton is launching legal action against the Post Office and Fujitsu, becoming the first individual Horizon IT scandal victim to sue the two organisations.

His case is one of the most high profile in the scandal in which hundreds of sub-postmasters were wrongfully convicted after faulty software said money was missing from their branch accounts.

Mr Castleton is seeking compensation, alleging the civil judgement against him was obtained by fraud. “I want justice and to be publicly vindicated,” he told the BBC.

The Post Office said it was “committed to doing all we can to help those affected get closure”.

“We cannot comment on ongoing legal proceedings but once we receive the claim, we will engage fully in the process,” a spokesperson added.

Fujitsu, which developed the Horizon IT system, declined to comment when asked about Mr Castleton’s legal action.

On Tuesday, Mr Castleton instructed his solicitors, Simons Muirhead Burton, to issue proceedings at the High Court against the Post Office and Fujitsu on his behalf.

While other victims have seen their convictions overturned, Mr Castleton’s civil judgement against him still stands. His legal action is to set aside, or overturn, the judgement.

“I’d like to effectively have my day in court as well,” said Mr Castleton who is due to receive his OBE next month.

He told the BBC he has little faith in the compensation schemes the Post Office has set up to compensate the wrongfully convicted sub-postmasters that he wants his case to be heard in court instead.

Mr Castleton never started the compensation scheme process, although he has received an interim payment.

He says he also wanted to take the action to help other victims fighting for their compensation.

The Horizon IT scandal was thrust back into the spotlight when the ITV drama, Mr Bates vs the Post Office, aired last year.

Mr Castleton’s story was told during the four-part series and the former sub-postmaster was portrayed by the actor Will Mellor.

In 2007, Mr Castleton lost a two-year legal battle against the Post Office after it sued him to recover £25,000 of cash it alleged was missing from his branch in Bridlington in East Yorkshire.

When his legal insurance ran out, Mr Castleton had to represent himself in court and was landed with a bill of £321,000 in legal costs which he couldn’t pay and declared bankruptcy.

“We now know from the Post Office Inquiry that they wanted to make an example of me,” he said.

“Lee faced a David versus Goliath battle against the Post Office and we are fully ready to take this all the way to trial should we need to,” says his lawyer, Simon Goldberg.

During the public inquiry it emerged that that Fujitsu’s log of known errors wasn’t disclosed to Mr Castleton during his court proceedings.

The application to the court in Lee’s case will say that the Post Office, conspiring with others, withheld evidence about the unreliability of the Horizon system. A witness from Fujitsu also gave evidence in his case.

“What we’re effectively going to be saying is that the claim against his was an abuse of process. It was never about recovery of the sum of money – it was to make an example of Mr Castleton” says Mr Goldberg.

“We also believe the judgement was obtained by fraud in that the Post Office and Fujitsu knew perfectly well that the Horizon system wasn’t working properly,” he added.