Post office Horizon scandal: Wrongly-convicted postmaster recounts horror

A WRONGLY CONVICTED former sub-postmaster has described how he hid his conviction from his close family as he was wrongly accused of fraud and theft in a case regarded as Britain's most widespread miscarriage of justice.

Father-of-four, Parmod Kalia recalled hiding his jail time from his mother who died in 2019 without knowing what her son had been through.

In an interview with the BBC, he recalled how, after serving in Orpington’s post office for 11 years, things turned for the worse when the Post Office installed the new software system (Horizon). He couldn't balance the books, leading to a cash gap of  £22,000.

When he reported it, Kalia was told to find the money or fill the hole quickly to keep him out of jail.

"I had to go to my mother to tell her I desperately needed this money, but I didn't give her the reason," he told BBC News. "She didn't ask. So she got me a cheque from her building society account, which I paid to the Post Office."

Despite paying the amount, Kalia was prosecuted by the Post Office for theft based on the data from their computer accounts. He was convicted and sentenced to six months in prison.

A supporter celebrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, on April 23, 2021 (Photo by Tolga Akmen / AFP) (Photo by TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images)

But in recent weeks, Kalia has become one of the former sub-postmasters whose names were exonerated by the court. Hundreds more are now expected to have their names cleared after being prosecuted based on evidence from the flawed Horizon system the Post Office installed in branches.

Facing the shame of serving time in prison, and then facing the world as a convicted criminal had not been easy on him, Kalia said.

“I can walk out of that court with my head held high knowing that everybody else now knows that, yes, Mr Parmod Kalia is not a criminal," he said. "It has been a very long fight."

After 20 years, campaigners won the legal battle to have their cases reconsidered after a long-running series of civil cases. Nobody at the Post Office or Fujitsu, the maker of Horizon, has been held accountable yet.