Views are all my own, like my hair and teeth. Becoming less inclined to fence sit & more political and angry at injustice in my dotage. a @mortgage prisoner.
I live in County Durham, unfortunately we now have a majority Reform council, and the only thing they have done in 3 months is move the bin collection date a day later. Nothing else, nothing!!
#PostOfficeScandal 🔊BREAKING🔥Latest by @BBCEmmaSimpson for @BBCNews
Horizon victim sues Post Office and Fujitsu for £4m
Wishing Lee all the best in this fight for justice. As he rightly says it is not about the money but vindication. Having a judgement still against you despite all that has been proven is wrong and immoral. Whether a claim is worth £10,000 or £10m it is about the principle and about what is right. The @PostOffice and government @biztradegovuk promised full and fair redress and they are not delivering that. I am about to return to the Independent panel for the 2nd time and potentially refer the case to retired judge Sir Ross Cranston, now that the 2 year and 2 month claim process I’ve been in and the latest 10 month battle I have had to remove the financial risk element of returning to the panel (which could have cost me £180k of the current offer and I therefore couldn’t reach Sir Ross on those grounds. The recent comments by @gareththomasMP that they were speeding things up is laughable. Since May 52 working days since further explanations were provided to the Department and 42 working days before additional expert explanations were provided the Department said their position hadn’t changed since September last year. They have deliberately dragged their heels and must have been writing one word per week in their letter.
Former sub-postmaster @CastletonLee is suing the Post Office and Fujitsu for more than £4m in damages over the Horizon IT scandal, court documents reveal.
Mr Castleton is one of the most high-profile of hundreds of sub-postmasters who were wrongly convicted after faulty software said money was missing from their branch accounts.
He became the first individual to take legal action against both organisations and this is the first time full details of a complex compensation claim have been made public.
The Post Office said it could not comment on ongoing legal proceedings but was "engaging fully" in the process.
Speaking to the BBC about his £4.487m claim he said: "I want it to be made public. This is what they did to me and my family.
"It's not about the money. What matters to me is that I get vindication from the court."
In 2007, Mr Castleton lost a two-year legal battle against the Post Office after it pursued him to recover £25,000 of cash it alleged was missing from his branch in Bridlington, East Yorkshire.
When his legal insurance ran out, Mr Castleton represented himself in court and was landed with a bill of £321,000 in legal costs which he couldn't pay and declared bankruptcy.
His was the only civil claim the Post Office brought against a sub-postmaster.
The official inquiry into the scandal heard evidence that the Post Office knew Mr Castleton would likely be made bankrupt by the action but wanted to make an example of him to dissuade others from pursuing claims.
Claimed losses
The court documents reveal that in Mr Castleton's case his quantifiable financial losses include:
•£940,000 past lost earnings plus interest
•£864,000 future loss of earnings
•£933,000 past pension losses
•£133,000 past property losses
•£232,000 past losses of rental profits plus interest
•£109,000 loss from sale of business plus interest
He's also seeking general damages – They include:
•£30,000 for mental distress plus interest
•£30,000 for stigma and damage to reputation plus interest
•£45,000 for harassment
•£50,000 for maliciously causing his bankruptcy
'Startling'
"When your life, as well as your family's, has literally been ruined it results in a substantial claim," said his solicitor Simon Goldberg, from Simons Muirhead Burton.
"The reason it's so startling is that it's the first time that the forensic details of a sub-postmaster's claim been made public. Like many others, Lee has a very complex case, and the figures have been calculated by experts who are leaders in their field," he said
https://t.co/AATGiXrN21
I prosecute and defend the most serious sexual offences in our courts.
The overwhelming majority of offenders are British-born. Overwhelmingly the victim is someone known to them, either a partner or relative.
Anybody purporting to care about protecting women might start there.
Hey peeps...its fab who you meet while minding my own...sitting on a bench on #Newbo prom when a true #musicalLegend walks by..only #ThevoiceOfAGen...The1andonly...@TheHollyJohnson 1st time I've met him+I wasn't disappointed..a truly wonderful man..I did totally #Relax around him