Post Office scandal: Former postmaster urges new inquiry to get to the bottom of Horizon IT ordeal

Christopher Head ran the West Boldon Post Office between 2006 - 2015 from the age of just 18, making him one of the youngest people in the country to hold the role.

But his tenure ended when he became one of more than 700 subpostmasters and subpostmistresses (SPMs) accused of fraud and theft by the Post Office, due to failures in its Horizon accounting system.

A judge-led probe into the affair has now started in London, prompting Christopher to call for bosses to finally get to the bottom of the saga which saw many lose homes and even contemplate taking their own lives.

“The testimonies have been very sad, every time this comes up, new stories come out and this has given a new platform for people to say how it’s affected them,” he said.

“But I hear it over and over again - someone had to know there was something wrong and that’s what the inquiry has to find out.”

He added: “It just keeps going, reminding you how big it is.”

In December 2019, Christopher was among hundreds of sub-postmasters who finally won their case against the Post Office in a £58million settlement over its faulty Horizon IT system, which was installed and maintained by Fujitsu, between 2000 - 2014.

Since then, dozens of SPMs have had criminal convictions overturned, including Pauline Stonehouse, from Sunderland.

But whatever the outcome of the inquiry, which is expected to run at least until the end of the year, many fear they will never get back the time and money they lost.

Christopher, who has estimated he lost about £100,000 as a result of the ordeal, said: “You try to look on the bright side, but you can’t get those years back, you won’t get that money back.

“I was working seven days a week for almost ten years, all that time was invested into making a successful business at a time when a lot of post offices were dying.

“I put so much effort in and it was taken away in the blink of an eye.”

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