Post Office scandal victim outraged as staff linked to cover-up 'now handle compensation claims': 'Another insult!'

During the Post Office Inquiry, emails were shown from forensic accountant Ron Warmington and Shirley Hailstones, a Post Office case review manager, sent in November 2013. The emails discussed potential links between faults at different Post Office branches.

Hailstones contacted former Post Office executive Angela van den Bogerd and said the "interaction in my view should not be widely circulated". Hailstones is now one of the staff members that works in the Remediation Unit, handling compensation cases for victims.

Sharing details of his "long and frustrating wait" for justice, Verrechia said: "I had a Post Office in Cambridgeshire for four years, and from day one, like everybody else, started experiencing shortfalls. Big amounts, small amounts, but regularly and consistently.

"And ultimately, it got to the point where I just couldn't afford to keep making them up out of my own funds, so I had to sell the business, and I lost my house and marriage in the process of that. I submitted my application for compensation in 2022, and it still hasn't been settled. So it's a long and frustrating wait."

Highlighting how he has been campaigning with other Post Office victims for the staff who in the Remediation Unit despite being exposed by the inquiry to be removed, Verrechia added: "This issue is far bigger than just that one individual, Shirley Hailstones. For a number of years, I've been trying to highlight this issue, and I'm certainly not the only one who has been trying to do that.

"There are lots of individuals still today working on the compensation scheme who shouldn't be there, because of links to the scandal. The Compensation Advisory Board that meet with Post Office every month for two years have been asking about this and trying to get them to do something about it.

"MPs have criticised them over it, they were criticised at the inquiry over it, but they still don't seem to want to do anything about it."

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Expressing his frustration at their failure to "accept the issue" and its impact on victims, Verrechia stated: "They just don't accept the issue, after everything that's happened. How on earth did they think it was okay to put these people on the Remediation Unit in the first place?

"But even more frustrating than that is once this has been highlighted to them as an issue, why haven't they dealt with it? It's just another insult to victims. They clearly still don't care about victims. They should be bending over backwards to run this scheme according to the wishes of victims, after everything that's happened, but but doesn't seem to feature in their thinking at all. It's very frustrating."

Calling on the Post Office to take action and move those linked to cover-ups away from dealing with compensation cases, Verrechia added: "How were all these people missed? I would suggest they need to do another past roles review, look through every member of the team, and remove people with links.

"I'm not saying sack them, just move them to any department in the Post Office other than the Remediation Unit. A 10-year-old could tell you, it's not ideal to have people involved then handling compensation, is just such a conflict of interest."

Delivering his verdict on the first instalment of the Post Office Inquiry report, due to be published July 8, Verrechia admitted he is "not holding his breath" that any action will be taken by the company as a result.

Calling on the Government to take complete control of the compensation schemes rather than the Post Office, Verrechia told GB News: "Clearly it's a big task, but ultimately, I would like to see the Government take over the compensation schemes. There are five compensation schemes, and the Government currently run four of them.

"So the scheme that I'm claiming through is the one remaining scheme administered by Post Office. So I would like to see the Government take over that scheme as well, so that then at least there are no Post Office staff at all involved in administering redress and hopefully speed all the process up a little bit."

Revealing how the cover-ups exposed in the inquiry have affected him, Verrechia said it has become "more stressful than the initial incident itself", and the reputation of the Post Office is now "in the gutter".

He said: "I'm slowly sort of rebuilding things, but I'll be honest, this process of claiming compensation, and finding out about this staff issue that we're talking about in some ways is actually more stressful than the initial incident when it happened.

"I just can't get my head around how the Post Office don't understand what a big deal this is for victims, to have the very same people who investigated, suspended, and harassed victims now administer compensation."

He added: "It's so frustrating that they don't recognise what an issue that is for people. Their reputation is in the gutter and it's never going to improve. They never just do the right thing of their own back, they have to have a gun to their head to do the right thing. They'll never just do the right thing themselves."

In the historic scandal, 900 sub-postmasters and postmistresses were wrongly prosecuted due to a faulty Horizon accounting system, making it look like money was missing from their accounts.

In a statement, A Department for Business and Trade spokesman said: "We are grateful for the Inquiry’s work, which has revealed the immeasurable suffering that victims of the scandal have endured, and its recommendations on compensation will be helpful for our work in this area.

"This Government is working tirelessly to provide victims with full and fair redress and has so far paid out over £1 billion in compensation, and we remain absolutely committed to righting past wrongs and working to ensure justice is delivered for victims."

In a statement, a Post Office spokesman said: "We do not comment on individual employment matters. We can confirm, as per our letter to the Advisory Board that has been published, there are three individuals leaving the Post Office at the earliest opportunity."

GB News has reached out to Post Office Chair Nigel Railton, Remediation Unit Director Joanne Hanley for comment.