‘Oldest’ victim of Horizon IT scandal says ordeal ‘destroyed’ her health

A woman thought to be the oldest victim of the Horizon IT scandal said the ordeal “destroyed” her health as she celebrated the publication of an inquiry report.

Betty Brown, 92, from County Durham, ran the Annfield Plain Post Office near Stanley with her late husband Oswall, in the 1990s and early 2000s.

She claims his death was impacted by the ordeal of missing hundreds of pounds each week in their accounts.

Ms Brown told the PA news agency: “We had a nice office, nice atmosphere, nice customers, and everything was fine, no problem.

“And then we were told about this wonderful advancement in technology, and we would get a system put in, called Horizon that would half the workload – which it didn’t.

“So Horizon was put in, then the very first night, the balance was £500 short, but they thought something had been missed in the accounts or whatever and that was just let go.

“Then it began eventually that there was so many mistakes in the system that it was concerning, and these losses were coming out in amounts of £1,500, £1,600 every week, and we were having to put this money in and make it good, because that’s what you sign up for.”

Ms Brown said the ordeal caused her to lose her voice and said the anxiety it caused her husband disrupted his cancer treatment.

He died a year after they sold the Post Office, which Ms Brown said she felt forced to do.

“Even my voice today isn’t a voice that I had naturally,” she said.

“The stress, I lost my voice, and after retired, I had to go for elocution lessons, to learn to speak again so that people could understand me.

“The stress was unbelievable. You would go to bed at night and you couldn’t sleep.”

Ms Brown and her husband moved away from Annfield Plain to Consett after the ordeal.

“We couldn’t live there (Annfield Plain) any longer, because the stigma was there and we kept a low profile.

“We didn’t integrate into what the community. We kept ourselves apart. And when people would say to us, what did you do while you were working?

“You evaded the question, and you tried to change the subject.”

Ms Brown continues her campaign for full compensation but said on Tuesday, after the first tranche of the Horizon inquiry’s final report was published, that she had an “amazing” day.

“Sir (Wyn) Williams has done a wonderful job,” Ms Brown said.

“He has felt the pain, he’s felt the anxiety, he’s felt the agony, he’s felt everything that subpostmasters felt and he has been able to bring that with all his skill into a meaningful book.

“I hope that the Post Office will take this on board.”