Sion Tecwyn

SHE DIED WAITING Heather Earley, mother of three, has died waiting for her money. @PostOffice kept her waiting so long she ran out of time. Impressive logistics. Lawyer @SimonMGoldberg (well worth to give him a follow) shared the sad news today. Heather Earley was one of 555 postmasters who took the Post Office to the High Court and won, and she died before getting her redress, the money owed to put her life back together. He points to a @BBCNews article from 2024 on victims who died before getting redress. Winning in court and never seeing the money is a rare talent. Heather Earley was a mother of three who ran a local shop with a Post Office counter in Mossley, Newtownabbey, in Northern Ireland. In December 2013 the Horizon computer system said she was £10,000 short. A computer said so, and in the Post Office computers are never wrong.. She says one customer kept using a flaw in the system. Every time that customer withdrew £100, the system added £100 to the balance instead of taking it off. I wish my bank worked like that. Heather Earley called the police, and the customer was prosecuted and convicted. That put the blame on the customer, and the Post Office still demanded the £10,000 from her, took money from her wages and refused to give it back even after the conviction. Crime solved, victim billed ... She borrowed from family and maxed out three credit cards just to buy stock for the shop. She cashed in £50,000 of her pension to save the house and clear her debts. Her village lost its post office and its shop, a truly generous service to the community. In 2019 the Post Office settled the group case for £57.75M. Around £46M went on legal and funding costs, which left roughly £20,000 for each of the 555 people. The judge, Mr Justice Peter Fraser, had said the Post Office at times acted as though it answered only to itself, and it seems to have taken that as a challenge. Reports say at least 350 Horizon victims have died before their final payouts, so at this pace the scheme will finish the moment nobody is left to be paid. Heather Earley wanted justice and enough money to rebuild what was left of her life. Simon Goldberg says the lawyers and other parties who held up and nickel and dimed her redress should feel nothing but shame, though shame does not appear to be billable. Stop fighting these people and pay them before it is too late. Heather Earley never got her cheque. RIP Heather