TRAGIC sub-postmaster Julian Wilson, who was one of hundreds to be wrongly convicted in the Post Office scandal, died from cancer before he was cleared.
The scandal, which has been described as the most widespread miscarriage of justice in UK history, has been put back in the spotlight following ITV’s new four-part drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office.
More than 700 sub-postmasters were handed criminal convictions for allegations such as theft and false accounting – with many sent to prison or bankrupted.
Karen Wilson, the widow of sub-postmaster Julian Wilson, who ran a post office in Astwood Bank, previously said his wrongful conviction over missing funds “massively contributed” to his early death aged 67.
Mr Wilson took a plea deal in 2008 after auditors found more than £27,000 missing in the branch accounts.
In December 2019, a High Court judge ruled that the Horizon IT System contained several “bugs, errors and defects” and there was a “material risk” that shortfalls in Post Office branch accounts were caused by the system.
Mr Wilson died from cancer in 2016 – more than four years before his conviction was overturned in April 2021.
Mr Wilson, who was suspended in September 2008 when an audit found that there was more than £27,000 missing from the accounts, was charged with false accounting and theft.
At an inquiry in 2022, Mrs Wilson described how her husband was left little choice but to take a plea deal to avoid prison and was sentenced to community service as well as a confiscation order for the missing money.
After the conviction, she said he was unable to find work, their assets were frozen, and she ended up pawning her belongings including her engagement ring to get by.
Mrs Wilson also said her husband, who previously loved to take part in music and sports events, “just hid himself for about a year”.
“He couldn’t face it,” she said, adding that he would sometimes “just fall apart and talk about suicide”.
In January 2016, Mr Wilson was diagnosed with bowel cancer and as it progressed, Mrs Wilson promised him she would fight to vindicate him.
She said: “He was only 67. I never said that this did kill him but it did massively contribute, definitely.”
A total of 93 sub-postmasters have had their convictions overturned to date but hundreds more have not yet come forward.
A public inquiry looking into the failings of the Horizon system and the wrongful convictions of sub postmasters is due to finish this year.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak confirmed Justice Secretary Alex Chalk is considering ways of helping to clear the names of wrongfully convicted sub-postmasters.
More than a million people have signed a petition calling for the former Post Office boss Paula Vennells to lose her CBE after the ITV drama was released.
People have called for her to be stripped of her honour after overseeing the Post Office throughout the time sub-postmasters were wrongly convicted.
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