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Post Office offers Horizon victim 17% of compensation claim

Nia Price
BBC News
BBC Tim, a bald white man wearing glasses and a Hawaiian shirt, standing outside the post office with a large sign on it saying 'Roch Gate Stores'BBC
Tim Brentnall's parents bought the Post Office branch with him when he was 22, to help him stay in the area

A sub-postmaster who was wrongly prosecuted in the Horizon scandal said he was left "in disbelief" when offered less than 17% of his compensation claim.

Tim Brentnall, from Roch, Pembrokeshire, was prosecuted in 2010 for false accounting after a £22,500 shortfall was discovered at his branch.

In 2021 his conviction was overturned and he submitted a claim for full financial redress to the Post Office last August, which they responded to in December.

A Post Office spokesperson said it "apologised unreservedly" to the victims of the Horizon IT Scandal and was focused on paying redress as quickly as possible.

Mr Brentnall, who is now in the process of re-submitting his claim, said it felt like "litigation all over again".

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Mr Brentnall said: "[I was] just in disbelief.

"What I prepared myself for and what came were two totally different things.

"It very much reminded me of receiving a summons to court from the Post Office the first time around.

"My claim was put together by lawyers and forensic accountants - we haven't picked these figures out of the air."

A Post Office desk with colourful posters and a set-up to take payments
Mr Brentnall is one of 736 former Post Office managers who were prosecuted due to the flawed Horizon computer system

Mr Brentnall said he received a response four months after submitting his claim, which offered him less than 17% of the amount he had asked for.

He had been warned he would never receive the full figure, but was told the day before that the offer was going to be "significantly under".

"You sit down and get to a number or percentage where you think 'well, that's enough for me to walk away and draw a line under it'," Mr Brentnall added.

The former sub-postmaster said he received a 50-page letter dismissing much of his claim, and nearly 15,000 pieces of various documents.

He said he had spent the last three months sifting through these to re-submit.

Mr Brentnall wearing glasses and a black shirt standing outside the Royal Courts of Justice. There is a black wrought iron fence behind him and an ornate arched window.
In 2021 Mr Brentnall had his conviction overturned and he gave evidence to the Post Office inquiry the following year

Fellow former sub-postmaster Terry Walters, 76, died in February without receiving all the money he was owed - despite submitting a claim for full financial redress more than a year ago.

"I'm 43, I can afford to wait," said Mr Brentnall.

"But there are so many people much older than me that should be able to sit back and relax and enjoy the years that they've got left, and they're just not being put in that position."

The dad said the issue was complicated given the huge sums of public money and number of people involved.

"Around this time last year we were told 'we can't overturn the convictions'," he said.

"When the public opinion shifted on it, the government moved within a week to do something - so if there's a will, there's a way.

"Surely they can do something because people are dying, and it's not fair."

Mr Brentnall was 22 when he and his parents bought the shop and the plan was for him to have an income to help him stay in the "beautiful" area where he grew up.

In 2009, auditors arrived on behalf of the Post Office and said they had found a discrepancy.

"I was immediately suspended and within a few days taken to Haverfordwest police station for interviews," he previously said.

"It was horrific. I felt totally alone and helpless."

Even though Mr Brentnall knew he had not taken any money, he and his family were desperate to make up for the missing funds.

His parents took out a loan to pay the alleged debt, but he was prosecuted for false accounting shortly afterwards.

He is one of 736 former Post Office managers prosecuted due to the flawed Horizon computer system.

"It wiped out any savings my parents had, the business that we had, and cost me any future employment in the last 15 years," he explained.

Like many others in his position, he was advised to plead guilty and was given an 18-month suspended sentence, plus 200 hours of community service.

In 2021, his conviction was overturned and he gave evidence to the Post Office inquiry in March 2022.

On Monday the UK government confirmed it will now take over responsibility for the Overturned Convictions Scheme, which provides redress for those who have had their convictions quashed.

A spokesperson for the Post Office said to date more than £768m had been paid to 5,100 people, adding: "We continue to listen to feedback to make improvements to the redress process for those affected."