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WITNESS: DELLA ROBINSON
STATEMENT NUMBER: WITNO155_01
EXHIBITS: 0
DATED: Jan 11,2022
POST OFFICE HORIZON IT INQUIRY
FIRST WITNESS STATEMENT OF MISS DELLA ROBINSON
THIS STATEMENT IS PROVIDED IN RESPONSE TO THE RULE 9 REQUEST OF
THE PUBLIC INQUIRY DATED 29/10/2021 TO ADDRESS THE HUMAN IMPACT OF
THE FAILINGS OF THE HORIZON IT SYSTEM
I, MISS DELLA ROBINSON, Date of Birth I _ GRO.
will say as follows:-
PERSONAL BACKGROUND
1. I am currently 54 years of age.
2. Prior to working for the Post Office I had worked in a number of different jobs
until such time as both my two sons had grown up. After having my first son I
worked in a factory doing nights and then also had a job wrapping wall
papers. After having my second son I worked at a local school during dinner
times.
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3.
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I was diagnosed with blood clots on the brain in 1992 and developed epilepsy
in 1993. So, I had to stop working at that point as I was having radiotherapy
and stayed at home with the kids.
I have not worked since my job with the Post Office.
I have since been registered disabled due to suffering with an exacerbation of
my epilepsy.
POST OFFICE HISTORY
6.
I began work as a Sub-Post Mistress at the Dukinfield Post Office on 27"
January 2006 and occupied this position until 27" February 2012 when my
contract was terminated.
My partner, is a joiner. In 2006 we saw a property in Dukinfield which
we thought would be a good investment/project for him. We have previously
bought a property in Ashton which we rented out, so we were looking for the
next project. We viewed the property believing that it was being sold to be
made into flats. We then learned that there was a running Post Office for sale
within the property.
It was our intention to turn the two flats into an investment and for me to run
the Post Office alongside these. The long-term goal was to renovate the flats
and rent these out as well as the property in Ashton before I ‘moved on
to the next property, whilst I continued to run the Post Office.
We had lived in Dukinfield all our lives and we liked the thought of doing
something for the community and working for ourselves. I thought it would be
a lovely job in a town that was so friendly.
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10. After purchasing the property for £240,000, we decided to keep on the two
previous employees we knew the previous owner well.
CRIMINAL ALLEGATIONS AND ANY PROCEEDINGS/CONVICTION
11.I had never been behind a Post Office counter before and it was all new to
me. I was given some very basic training which I felt was mostly either
inadequate or irrelevant.
12. The computer software used by the Post Office when I began my job as Sub-
Postmistress was called Horizon. However, none of my training had been in
relation to how Horizon worked which left me feeling anxious about how I
would cope using it when I was on my own.
13.1 had to teach myself a lot of things and although I had kept on the two
members of staff, they only had experience in running the counters nothing to
do with balancing off and maintaining the books.
14.No audits were done between 2006 and 2010 and the Post Office was very
happy with how I was increasing the business and making money for them. I
felt as though I had a newfound sense of confidence in my life again which
pleased me; I loved my job.
15.At first, I noticed some mistakes occurring, for small amounts of money,
usually £10 or £20. As I became more confident, I started to challenge these
transactions and was able to prove that they were wrong. I would ring the
Horizon Helpline about twice a week for the first three years of running the
Post Office and found their assistance to be pleasant but not effective. Most of
the time I just found it easier to work out the problem myself.
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16.1 can recall one time that I returned from holiday to find that there was a
shortfall of £36,000. After investigating it fully, it transpired that the shortfall
was only £500.
17.Following that period things started to get complicated and sometimes it was
just easier to accept the transaction correction notices from the Post Office as
it was getting too complicated and time consuming.
18.IIn 2010 we had a further shortfall of about £1,500 which I couldn’t sort out and
I came to the agreement with the Post Office that I would pay this back £500
per month out of my wage, even though it was not my fault. I found this very
frustrating and it made me quite angry.
19. Horizon needed to be balanced monthly, but as I was experiencing problem
after problem, I continued to balance weekly and, physically on paper so I
could see where the problems were coming from and work from them as
Horizon would not do this, so you would be none the wiser relying on the
system.
20. The shortfalls snowballed and it came to the point where I could not put any
more money in as there were differences of about £1,000, which we simply
didn’t have.
21.My cries for help to the Helpline were completely ignored. The Helpline hours
had changed and on one occasion my difference had trebled by the time I had
finished listening to what the Helpline told me to do. I simply could not rely on
the system working.
22.My area manager during my employment was a lady called Tina. I cannot
recall her surname.
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23.On 24th January 2012 I was visited by an auditor, her name was Belinda
Truman, and there was also someone called Andrew Wise. I was sick at the
time and so I was not working. I received a call to go to the shop and to my
amazement it was closed. It was complete chaos. The auditor from the Post
Office informed me that they had been counting cash and had calculated a
shortfall of £15,500.
24. This made me panic and I felt so anxious. We re-counted it all and the
shortfall had risen to £17,000. I was suspended straight away and was not
allowed back into the Post Office from that point onwards.
25.1 was interviewed on 9" February 2012 by Stephen Bradshaw, who I
remember was head of security, and someone else but I cannot recall the
other name. and my car and home were searched.
26.1 received a letter from the Post Office dated 27" February 2012 confirming
that they were terminating my contract.
27. Throughout this ordeal, the Post Office always made out that I was the only
person who had suffered financial issues.
28.Our house and possessions were searched by the Post Office security team,
and I was charged with false accounting and theft of a sum in the region of
£17,000.00. I was initially sent to Ashton Magistrates Court after receiving a
summons. At court, the Crown Prosecution Service told me that if I pleaded
guilty to false accounting then they would drop the theft charges.
29.1 then went to a plea hearing again at Ashton Magistrates Court when I was
advised by my barrister to fight the case at the Crown Court.
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30. I was so scared. I was told by the Post Office that if I pleaded guilty to false
accounting, they would not pursue me for the money and would drop the theft
charge. I then chose to do this.
31.On 12 December 2012 I pleaded guilty to false accounting and on 18"
January 2013 I attended Manchester Crown Court again for sentencing. I had
no idea what was going to happen and was terrified.
32.The solicitors and barristers all spoke between themselves and then I was
sentenced to 180 hours of community service. I also had to pay £5,000 in
legal costs.
33.On 23rd April 2021, my conviction was overturned by the Court of Appeal.
THE HUMAN IMPACT
34.The human impact which the failings of the Horizon IT System have had and
continue to have upon me and my family are set out in the remainder of this
statement. The section headings follow the particular questions posed by the
Inquiry.
WHAT WERE THE CONSEQUENCES OF BEING REQUIRED TO MAKE GOOD
APPARENT SHORTFALLS SHOWN BY THE HORIZON IT SYSTEM?
35. There were a number of occasions over the years that I noticed shortfalls. If
the shortfall was only a fairly small amount of money then I would just pay it
myself out of my own pocket.
36.As time went by I began to notice that we were regularly losing £100 to £200
a month and the Helpline did not offer any assistance; no one seemed to
accept that there was a problem. The shortfalls snowballed and it came to the
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point where I could not put any more money in as there were differences of
about £1,000, which we simply didn’t have.
37.Before the audit and subsequent criminal conviction took place, I estimate that
I had repaid in excess of £3,000 to the Post Office to try and reduce some of
the shortfalls, of which £1,500 was deducted from my wages. I also paid
further sums during the investigation, and court process.
38. Following my conviction and all that happened, we had our Ashton property
repossessed, this had been a regular income for us as we rented it out at
£480 per month. The value of the property was £95,000.
39.We now have a mortgage on our Dukinfield property, which we did not have
before we bought the Post Office. We are now in arrears as we are unable to
pay the mortgage and live week by week.
WHAT WERE THE COSTS OF MAKING GOOD ALLEGED SHORTFALLS
SHOWN BY HORIZON?
40. As mentioned above, I paid in excess of £3,000 to the Post Office. This
included the £1,500 referred to above which was deducted from my wages. I
believe I paid £500 per month for three months. I paid further sums during the
investigation and court process.
41. Eventually, I no longer had the money to repay the shortfalls.
42. The Post Office agreed that in the event I pleaded guilty, I would not have to
repay the shortfall found at the audit. I did however receive a letter after my
conviction advising me I would have to pay the amount back. We knew we
didn’t need to however, as I had pleaded guilty and the Post Office had
agreed not to pursue me for the money.
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HOW WERE YOU AFFECTED WHEN ALLEGED TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR
SHORTFALLS OR DISCREPANCIES SHOWN BY THE HORIZON IT SYSTEM?
43.When I was dealing with the shortfalls I would often have sleepless nights and
used to stay late at work until 11pm or 12am trying to find the money that was
missing.
44.In January 2011, the losses were about £11,000 and this made me feel very
uneasy despite knowing that I had done nothing wrong.
45. During the time that the audit was done I felt so anxious. I could not possibly
explain away the £17,000 as I had no idea where it had come from.
46.From the time that I was suspended until the time of my conviction I was a
wreck. I had no idea how the legal system worked and the fear of having to
spend time in prison petrified me.
WHAT WERE THE CONSEQUENCES OF BEING HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR
SHORTFALLS AND DISCREPANCIES SHOWN BY THE HORIZON IT SYSTEM?
47.I was suspended straight away. I was not allowed to talk to any of my staff or
go back into the Post Office or the shop which was inside the same building.
They took the keys from me.
48. It felt as though my world had just been turned upside down. The whole
experience was awful.
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WHAT WERE YOUR FINANCIAL LOSSES CAUSED BY ACTION TAKEN
AGAINST YOU IN RELIANCE UPON HORIZON DATA?
49.As discussed below, we could not afford to repay the mortgage on our home,
so it was repossessed. We lost out on an arrangement to sell the property as
a result of my conviction.
50.1 lost my Post Office wage and have not been able to secure further
employment.
51.My husban ( “lost income. He was employed as a joiner. I suffer with
epilepsy and! had to take time off work to look after me. GRO I
works as a joiner on a self-employed basis.
jum lent us £4,500 to pay off the arrears on our mortgage. We had
three properties at the time and we did manage to keep our own but the other
properties were repossessed. We are still in arrears with our home in
Duckenfield. We didn’t previously have a mortgage on the property, which we
now do. We also borrowed around £3,500 from our son,
53.We have been paying back the money we owed in dribs and drabs.
54.As mentioned above, I paid around £5,000 in legal costs as a result of my
conviction.
WHAT EFFECT DID IT HAVE TO BE ACCUSED OF COMMITTING CRIMINAL
OFFENCES AS A RESULT OF SHORTFALLS AND DISCREPANCIES SHOWN
BY THE HORIZON IT SYSTEM?
55. It was horrible, I felt as if I was guilty even though I knew I had not taken the
money that was missing.
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56.In court, initially I was told to plead guilty, but then my barrister told me to fight
my case. I was confused, and so scared.
57. They had press there after the hearing, it was awful. I was told by the Post
Office that if I pleaded guilty to false accounting, they would not pursue me for
the money and would drop the theft charge. I chose to do this.
WHAT WERE THE CONSEQUENCES OF BEING CONVICTED OF A CRIMINAL
OFFENCE AS A RESULT OF SHORTFALLS AND DISCREPANCIES SHOWN BY
THE HORIZON IT SYSTEM?
58.As a result of my criminal conviction and the worsening of my epilepsy, I have
not been able to secure further employment since my conviction.
59.Had my contract not been terminated by the Post Office, I had the opportunity
to sell the business to an interested buyer who had discussed offering me
£120,000. As a result of my conviction, the arrangement fell through.
60.At the sentencing hearing, I did not know what to expect, I felt so out of my
depth. The Judge gave me 180 hours of community service.
61.1 was ordered to pay £5,000 in legal costs. The probation officer took me to
Age UK where I carried out my community service. It took me a few months to
complete it all. I felt a sense of shame because the people in the shop knew
why I was there; people used the shop and Post Office in Dukinfield, so it was
common knowledge.
62.I had to carry around a lot of the stigma from my conviction when I went out
hard and we were building our lives back up. We were building for our futures
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again. We had a buyer for the Post Office, but the Post Office said no and this
fell through.
63.As a result of my conviction, we couldn’t afford to pay the mortgage, so our
properties were repossessed. I felt devastated. We are still in arrears now
with the mortgage company. It affected me a lot; I shut down and was really
struggling. We had to live week-to-week and struggled financially.
64.For about 10 years prior to the conviction, we had owned a rental property in
Bolton. The rent paid the mortgage but, around four years ago, the mortgage
came up for renewal. Due to my poor credit based on my conviction, the
mortgage company were not prepared to renew the mortgage and the
property was repossessed and taken away from us.
65.My husban
had to work 7 days a week so we could make ends meet
the best they could. We had to borrow money from! family monthly,
so that we could survive.
66. The stress of the whole experience exacerbated my epilepsy which I am now
registered disabled for; this has resulted in my losing my driving licence.
67.1 would suffer with nightmares where I relived the experience.
68.1 put on large amounts of weight.
69.I lost my confidence, independence and I have developed depression. I was
able to manage my epilepsy before this. To go from the Post Office giving me
my confidence back and a new lease of life to then have it all taken away from
me was heart breaking. I feel I cannot move forward.
70.1 have suffered from financial hardship as a result of the Post Office’s actions
and also from a health perspective. I have been diagnosed with Prolonged
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Duress Stress Disorder. I have been recommended to have twenty sessions
of psychological therapy, which I am currently undergoing.
WHAT EFFECT DID THESE ISSUES HAVE UPON YOUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH
YOUR FAMILY, FRIENDS, COLLEAGUES AND LOCAL COMMUNITY?
71.1 loved my job and life at the Post Office. I consider it to be the best time of my
life.
72.My confidence increased and I was very proud to be the Postmistress. I was
the centre of community life, it was a new lease of life. I loved the people who
came in, it wasn’t really a job it was a pleasure. I felt guilty about the effect my
conviction had on my children.
73.My community service was done at an Age UK shop and the customers who
visited were often the same as those who came into my Post Office. I felt
ashamed that they knew what I had been convicted of and thought they would
judge me for it.
PLEASE DESCRIBE THE DIRECT AND INDIRECT EFFECT WHICH THESE
ISSUES HAD UPON THE MEMBERS OF YOUR FAMILY?
74.1 feel that it hasn’t just been me affected by my conviction.
75.My son became more introverted. He was worried what people thought.
76.1 felt more for what my husband jad lost; he had put his whole life
into us; it was his baby as he had done everything towards achieving this. It
devasted me to see that all his efforts had been for nothing.
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CONCLUDING REMARKS
77.\t upsets me so much so see the impact of the Post Office’s error on my life.
went from being so happy to so desperately sad.
78. The whole experience has taken so much out of me mentally and I do not
believe that I will ever fully recover from the stresses and strain that I have
been put through.
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Statement Of Truth
I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true.
Position Or
tamesem Office Held:
Print Full Date of signature: Jan 11, 2022
Name: DELLA ROBINSON
FILE REFERENC
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