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WITNESS: VIJAY PAREKH
EXHIBITS: 0
DATED: 4 FEBRUARY 2025
POST OFFICE HORIZON IT INQUIRY
FIRST WRITTEN STATEMENT OF VIJAY DOLATRAI PAREKH
1, VIJUAY DOLATRAI PAREKH, DATE OF BIRTH
7 will say as follows:-
1. 1am one of the sub-postmasters affected by the Horizon IT scandal and now a Core
Participant in the Post Office Horizon It Inquiry (‘the Inquiry’). I have drafted this
statement with the assistance of Hodge Jones & Allen solicitors, my representatives
for the purposes of the Inquiry.
PERSONAL BACKGROUND
2. I was born in India. I came to the UK when I was six years old. I lived in Brent from the
age of 9 and attended school there until I did my O-Levels, after which I started
working.
3. My first jobs were in telesales and other clerical work. I began my career working on
the railway in 1997. I was first based in Luton as a Train Dispatcher and Platform
Supervisor, before moving to Virgin Trains at Euston Station in 1999.
4. In the early 2000s, I was having problems with my/
thad
ind was diagnosed with
5. I wanted to find a less physically demanding job because of my
considered starting a restaurant business, but someone suggested the Post Office
might be a good option.
POST OFFICE HISTORY
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6. In 2004, I saw that the property that housed my local Post Office in Willesden was up
for sale. Another buyer wanted to turn it into an off license, but I put in an offer to keep
it as a Post Office. I knew all the shop keepers and most of the residents there as the
Post Office was located on the road I lived on until 1 was in my mid 20s and even after,
I lived very locally to the Post Office.
7. My offer to buy the Post Office Franchise was accepted and in 2005.I entered into
multiple contracts with the Post Office to buy the 3 storey property the Post Office was
housed in and then to lease them the ground and basement floors of the property to
run the Post Office; as part of the same arrangement I was made Sub-Postmaster for
the branch.
8. To buy the Post Office I took out a mortgage of! on my property to put down
as a deposit. I was short so I took out an additional charge of I
property. I bought the Post Office building with an additional mortgage. of
9. We had one week of training provided by the outgoing Postmaster. The training was
non-specific, general training about how to run the Post Office.
10. It was a busy Post Office with seven counters. My wife and I shared the load, but it
was hard work.
CRIMINAL ALLEGATIONS, PROCEEDINGS AND CONVICTION
11. Before taking over the Post Office in Willesden, I was not aware of any accounting
issues. I inherited an imbalance from the outgoing Postmaster, but I didn’t find this out
until after I had signed the contracts and taken over the branch
12. Any shortfalls did not show up straight away and only became apparent during the
weekly accounting on Wednesdays. There was also monthly accounting, which
revealed big losses.
13. Everything worked ok for the first two weeks, but then the losses began. In my second
year of running the Post Office I had my first significant shortfall of £8,000. I was
concerned and so rang the Horizon helpline. This was not helpful, so I took the problem
to my area manager who approved a plan for me to pay back the shortfall in monthly
instalments (£1,000 per month for eight months). ,
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The losses continued and I continually reached out to Post Office management and
the Help Desk to see where these losses were coming from but help was not
forthcoming. I could not keep track of my running total. My brother-in-law helped me
do the accounts and he was telling me that I was losing money, but I had no idea how
this could have happened; I thought perhaps someone taken money out of the till but
I did not know.
I think I paid around £50,000 into the Post Office to cover the shortfall and keep the
Post Office trading during my tenure as Sub-Postmaster.
I was audited on 29 April 2009 and an additional shortfall of £78,000 was found. I was
interviewed by the two investigators who were called by the auditors to come down. I
was asked to sit in the staff room whilst the auditors and investigators searched the
Post Office, this is where I was later interviewed. I sat there for the whole day not
knowing what was taking place at my branch. I cannot recall whether I was cautioned
or advised of my right to legal advice, but I did not have anyone there to support me
during the interview. During my interview I explained to the investigators that I did not
know how such a big loss could have happened, but the auditors told me multiple times
that my Post Office was the only branch with such big losses, this hadn’t happened
before and that I was in a lot of trouble. They told me that if I signed their statement
and did what they told me then the consequences of the loss would be less severe.
The investigators searched my house and tried to get me to confess, even after they
had checked all of mine and my wife’s bank accounts and there was no surplus money.
They made a tape recording of the interrogation and asked me to sign it at the end,
which I did
The next day I was suspended and was not allowed to enter any part of the premises
which I had used my life savings to buy. A few months later my contract was
terminated. The Post Office sent someone to take over the Post Office temporarily,
and my wife and I were not allowed to continue working in the branch. My daughter
ontinued working, but she was not allowed to take over as Sub-Postmaster.
I was told that this was a severe situation and had not happened at any other branches,
but I note that they had someone available to step in as Sub-Postmaster immediately;
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I now understand that there was a specialist company of ex Sub-Postmasters who
were drafted in to take over Post Offices in similar circumstances.
20.1 was charged with Theft and False Accounting. On 10 January 2010, I pleaded not
guilty at Willesden Magistrates Court and my case was sent to Harrow Crown Court.
21. On 8 November 2010 I pleaded guilty before Mr Recorder B Kogan to the theft charge
on the advice of my criminal solicitors. I was advised that Horizon was completely
accurate, and that if I entered a guilty plea and submitted character references I would
be unlikely to be given a custodial sentence.
22.1 paid back the £78,000 shortfall prior to sentencing in an effort to avoid prison. As a
family we owned a retail and residential property near Willesden and we sold this to
pay the shortfall back to the Post Office.
23. On 10 January 2011, I was sentenced to 18 months in custody by Mr Recorder B
Kogan at Harrow Crown Court. I was told the sentence had been reduced sentence
because of my guilty plea
24. I spent three months at Wormwood Scrubs, then was transferred to Ford Open Prison
on account of my good behaviour for another three months. I was released after a total
of six months in custody. For the six months after this I was subject to an electronic
tag and curfew, then for a further six months I was required to report to the probation
service each week.
25. My lawyers helped me to appeal my sentence on the grounds of my health issues but
this was not successful. I have seen that my court of appeal case reference was
201100665A6 and I was granted a representation order by Mr Justice Supperstone on
14 March 2011.
26. My daughter lodged a complaint to the CRCC regarding my conviction and in April
2021 they wrote to me advising that they had written to the High Court and stated that
my sentence was unsafe. Thereafter my conviction was overturned at the Royal Courts
of Justice by the Court of Appeal in April 2021.
SHORTFALLS SHOWED BY THE HORIZON IT SYSTEM
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27. During my second year running the Post Office, I paid back an £8,000 shortfall in
monthly instalments. I also paid the Post Office a further £50,000 to cover shortfalls
during my tenure. I used my own money to make up these shortfalls.
28. When the branch was audited in 2009, an additional shortfall was found. I paid the
Post Office £78,000 to cover the shortfall found during the audit prior to the conviction
using money from sale of our family home.
FINDING OUT ABOUT HORIZON ISSUES
29.1 was not aware of the systemic issues with Horizon until long after my conviction. I
came to know about this through my daughte: sometime after July 2012,
when she was working in a legal call centre
took a call from someone who had been through a similar experience with
the Post Office; when she phoned this customer back to check if she had been able to
access legal support, the customer tol ~ that she had contacted Alan Bates.
“I noted this down and we contacted Alan soon after this. Alan made us aware
of the numerous others affected by Horizon.
CONVICTION - FINANCIAL IMPACT
31. Following the conviction, the Post Office building was repossessed because I could
not keep up with mortgage payments. The reasons for this was not only because
suddenly mine and my wife's Post Office incomes had stopped but also because, as
we later found out to our detriment the Post Office contracts were only favourable to
them and not the Sub-Postmaster. After they removed me from being Post Master they
had no contractual liability to pay me rent to run the Post Office from within a building
which I owned. Not only did I become unemployed, I was in danger of losing my home
and the investment properties in a matter of a few weeks.
32. As mentioned above, as a result of the Post Office's actions we had to sell our family
home. With my children, we later pulled together and bought a home in Harrow, moving
away from the area we had lived in all our lives. From owning three properties in central
London we now had a home in the outskirts of London with a very big mortgage.
33. I was made bankrupt on 19 December 2014. Initially the receivers wanted £99,000 but
this grew to over £200,000, and the bankruptcy was eventually settled at £235,000
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34. A restriction had also been placed on the residential and rental properties owned jointly
by my brother, my Dad and me. This was during Post Office’s investigation and before
I was convicted. This made it more difficult to re-mortgage the properties in order to
pay the bankruptcy receivers. It was not until 2020 that I was able to reach an
agreement with the trustees in bankruptcy by selling the last property I owned.
35. Through the restriction, my Dad and brother were financially implicated by my
conviction even though they had nothing to do with it. The Post Office did not have to
involve them but instead they were forced to suffer the effect of this.
36. The Post Office also pursued a civil claim against me to recover a further £8,000. We
could not afford legal advice to help with this but eventually reached a settlement out
of court. I paid back the £8,000 in monthly instalments until 2014.
CONVICTION - PERSONAL IMPACT
37. The time I spent at Wormwood Scrubs was a very difficult period. My criminal solicitors
had advised me that it was unlikely that I would receive a custodial sentence because
I had paid back the shortfall and I was not expecting to go to prison.
38. I was 50 years old when I went into Wormwood Scrubs. I have a long history of
: to manage this. Although I was able to access
this medication in prison, I could not keep it with me to use when needed and would
have to go each morning and evening to get my medication from the pharmacy. It was
nerve wracking to be without full access to
39. As mentioned above, my family and I were could no longer afford to continue living in
Willesden, where I had lived nearly all my life. There was local media coverage of my
conviction and, even now, I do not feel comfortable going back to Willesden because
I worry that people think I am a thief. I only go there if I am passing through in the car
because I don’t want to be questioned by local people.
40. My family have been supportive throughout, and visited me in Wormwood Scrubs, but
the whole episode has been a strain. No compensation will clear my mind or my
family’s minds.
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There has been a particular impact on my three children; the years immediately after
my conviction were tough for them, and our relationships became distant. We will not
GRO ihad finished
university. She wanted to become a barrister, but felt she could not spend time doing
get that time back. By the time I was convicted, my daughter i
the (often low or unpaid) work experience that this career requires, because she felt
she needed a salary to help pay our bills. She has a very successful career now but
she feels angry that choices were taken away from her. My two sons were at university
at the time, and I worry that the strain affected their grades. As well as this, my children
and family have had to support me financially and emotionally since these events, and
the impact of this cannot be understated
I found it difficult to find a job after coming out of prison; if a prospective employer
asked whether I had a criminal conviction I would have to say yes.
In 2017, I started working at the High Commission of India as a chauffeur. They
understood that it was likely that my conviction would be overturned and gave me a
chance. I was given a permanent role in 2018 and worked there until April 2024.
. Lam currently employed as a drivel GR
I work long hours, and am in a much less financially comfortable position than I thought
I would be at this stage in my life.
I bought the Post Office property as a long-term investment. It had a 15-year mortgage,
so by 2021 this would have been paid off. The building was three storeys and my plan
was to convert the top two floors into flats to rent out. We had plans drawn up for this,
but when I was prosecuted these were abandoned. I recently passed by the property
while driving and saw that work is being done to convert the top floors into flats.
We would have had a steady income from the Post Office and the rental properties
and although I wouldn’t have completely retired by now, I would have got someone
else to manage the Post Office day-to-day. I would be taking things a bit more slowly
and certainly wouldn’t have to do my driving job, which
The Post Office was an investment for my children’s futures as well and this has been
taken from them.
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CONVICTION - IMPACT ON HEALTH
49. My health has suffered because of everything that has happened. Seven years ago, I
I [had a procedure to
jandlam
on medication to I
50. I still have problems with my [
2002. I still have some f j and take medication to manage this.
51. Before I was prosecuted, I had no trouble with my mental health. I found the
prosecution extremely difficult!”
52. I find the
helpful but they do not improve things completely. I have not
had any counselling or therapy, but this is something I would like to do in future.
STATEMENT OF TRUTH
I believe the facts stated in this witness statement are true.
Print full name:
jay Dolatrai Parekh
Dated: 4 February 2025
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