DEPRESSED AND SUICIDAL

EXCLUSIVE VICTIMS OF HORIZON SCANDAL SUFFER FROM PTSD

- SALLY HIND

Scottish postmasters tell how they still bear daily effects of P.O. persecution

SCOTS postmasters whose by the lives were shattered Horizon scandal have turmoil after spoken of their victims were found to have suffered similar trauma to soldiers in war zones.

Robert Thomson, Louise Dar and Chris Dawson were wrongly blamed for tens of thousands of pounds vanishing from their Post Office branches after faulty software sparked what is considered to be the most widespread miscarriage of justice in UK history. It has also been linked to several suicides.

They are among hundreds of former postmasters across the country who not only lost their livelihoods but were shunned by their communities and live with the emotional impact to this day.

Now as academics warn that the majority of affected postmasters are displaying PTSD and depression in numbers far greater than even military personnel and frontline Covid medics - they have told of their ongoing struggles as they demand long-overdue compensation for victims.

Robert, who was convicted over Horizon faults at his Clackmannanshire post office, told the Record: "I have depression and I previously tried to commit suicide.

"You can't put a price on this for people who have passed away or are going though PTSD and depression now because of it. The things that happened to us will never leave our minds.

More than 700 people were prosecuted for theft and false accounting between 2000 and 2014 after the Post Office's flawed Horizon IT system incorrectly suggested there were financial shortfalls.

Over 70 Scots workers were forced to pay out thousands to the Post Office during this time.