One former operator says he missed seeing dying father, as others describe horrors of prison and the stigma they suffered
A former post office operator who was convicted of false accounting as part of the Horizon IT scandal missed saying goodbye to his dying father because of a curfew related to his conviction.
Mohammed Rasul, who was convicted of false accounting after an audit showed a shortfall of £12,000, said he became “a recluse” and had to wear a tag for three months after receiving a suspended 12-month sentence. “I have carried the shame ever since. I refuse to carry it any longer,” he said. Rasul said he missed saying goodbye to his dying father because of his curfew.
From having a “full social life”, he cancelled his all his engagements, and saw only his children and wife. “Even my parents didn’t know, my siblings didn’t,” said Rasul. “Although I knew I hadn’t done it, it was just the stigma attached. You had to explain if anybody asked, what had happened. I just couldn’t explain that something had happened which was totally out of my control and I had to justify it or defend it.” He said he paid the shortfall. “Out of my savings, what little I had, and some borrowed money so I wouldn’t go to prison,” he said.
Rasul was speaking on BBC Breakfast as part of a group of former Post Office staff who were victims of Horizon IT scandal and told of the shame and stigma they carried for years.
Eight of those affected, and the son of a ninth, appeared on BBC Breakfast on Wednesday, including Janet Skinner, who served three months of a nine-month custodial sentence for false accounting after a shortfall of £59,000.
Skinner said: “It’s affected everything of my life going forward for the past 16 years.
