Meigh man wrongly accused by Post Office in Horizon scandal calls for apology

Owen Fearon was told he owed the Post Office more than £16,000.

He was one of hundreds caught up in the scandal after faulty computer software calculated money was missing from Post Office branches.

Between 1999 and 2015, 700 sub-postmasters and postmistresses - self-employed people who run the branches - were prosecuted for offences such as theft, fraud and false accounting, with some going to prison and others taking their own lives.

Mr. Fearon says he was told to pay the money back or go to jail - which he now describes as blackmail.

His case has been one of those featured in UK-wide coverage to coincide with the Post Office Inquiry in London.

The inquiry started in 2021 and resumed in London last month after a Christmas break.

A number of former sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses from Northern Ireland have been attending the hearings.

One said: "The sorry thing is it took a TV drama for all this to come to a head."

The ITV programme Mr Bates vs The Post Office exposed the affair to millions of people across the UK.

Mr. Fearon says he has not been able to watch more than a few minutes of it.

He said that with three young children and a busy corner shop in Meigh, "life was brilliant" - but things started to go wrong after he took on the lease for the Post Office in 2002.

"From day one, there would be (supposed) shortages," he added. "You kept ringing the Post Office helpline; it was no use. They told us it was our fault."

In January, 2006, the local man was told he owed the Post Office £16,500 and that he'd have to pay it back or face being sent to jail.

So he borrowed the money and paid it off.

But Mr. Fearon now says: "It was blackmail then and it has now been proven to be blackmail.

"We were told by the Post Office 'it was you and only you'."

Similar stories began to emerge and a TV documentary in 2015 led Mr. Fearon to contact the Post Office and challenge them on his case.

He said: "They sent me an offer of compensation which, to me, it was very, very small - for what they put me through.

"Remember they were going to jail me, they were going to bankrupt me, they were going to put my wife and three children out of the house and on the street, they didn't care.

"When I disputed the compensation, they sent me back a letter - they wanted to see my medical records.

"I'd love some guy from the Post Office to lift the phone, ring me and apologise for attempting to send me to jail."

PM Rishi Sunak has announced the government will bring in a new law to "swiftly" exonerate and compensate victims.

The law will not automatically apply in Northern Ireland or Scotland, but Downing Street is said to be "keen" to extend the provisions.

Although the government has promised to overturn the Post Office convictions, Mr. Fearon was never convicted and so his name can't be officially cleared.

He added: "It is totally unfair, the fact that myself and loads of other postmasters may have got the money from somewhere to pay it off; we're the forgotten ones in one sense.

"I would dare say there are hundreds who are still keeping quiet, those who have taken compensation - minimal as it is - are probably keeping quiet.

"I would suggest they come forward now and tell their story."