London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Post Office scandal: 'It’s been a strange 15 years'

Post Office scandal: 'It’s been a strange 15 years'

A former Post Office worker who has waited 15 years for justice is celebrating today with "a nice cup of tea".

Anthony Gant, of Newtown in Powys, was wrongly convicted of false accounting back in 2007, when software showed his branch to be short of more than £14,550.

He was one of six more former Post Office workers to have their criminal convictions overturned at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday.

Mr Gant's case was heard alongside Amanda and Norman Barber, of Warrington, who ran the Thelwall Post Office in 2011, Mohammed Aslam of Newport who ran the Post Office in Albion Square, Balbir Grewal of Romford who ran the Hockwell Ring Post Office, and David Hughes of Cockermouth in Cumbria.

Mr Gant was supported by his wife Kirsty and step-daughter Megan.

"It feels absolutely fantastic," Mr Gant told the BBC. "It has been a very strange 15 years."

He'd initially taken on running the Post Office's Nantoer branch after giving up a stockbroking job in London to return to Wales.

"I loved working with the public, I loved helping people," Mr Gant said. He and his family also ran the local pub as well as volunteering with local rugby coaching. He was left in utter disbelief when the sums stopped adding up each week.

"I thought it was a mistake. I was making good the losses myself, topping it up. I was drawing out money on credit cards, but in the end I had no funds to keep doing it," Mr Gant explained. "I buried my head in the sand."

The Post Office prosecuted 736 of its subpostmasters and subpostmistresses between 1999 and 2015, based on information from the Post Office's in-house accounting system called Horizon, which was provided by Fujitsu.

But it was the software at fault, containing "bugs, errors and defects" according to the High Court judgement which quashed many of the convictions.

Some subpostmasters were fined and others were sent to prison. Almost all suffered financial ruin, social stigma and mental ill-health after they were prosecuted.

The conviction has hung over Mr Gant; every job application, every insurance quote. He and his wife worried when they looked into adopting a child.

Getting the conviction quashed today will mean the world to his family. "We'll be heading back to Wales for a big celebration," he said.

Solicitor Neil Hudgell, who has been acting for subpostmasters, said: "It has been another significant few days for those affected by the Horizon scandal, firstly for more of our clients in fighting for and securing justice after so long, and secondly for all who are seeking complete transparency and accountability through next year's public inquiry.

"Having set out to support subpostmasters almost two years ago and to challenge every unsafe conviction, it is very pleasing for us as a law firm to have now surpassed 50 cases in which convictions have been overturned. We hope there are many, many more to come."

A scheme, backed by the government, has been set up to arrange financial redress and compensation for those affected. As of June, 400 payments had been made to those affected.

A Post Office spokesperson said: "While we cannot change the past, we have taken determined action to ensure there is appropriate redress and have undertaken wholesale reforms to prevent such events ever happening again.

"Ahead of final compensation, we are expediting offers of interim payments of up to £100,000 to people whose convictions have been overturned where the reliability of Horizon data was essential to the prosecution."

To date 65 Horizon convictions have been overturned.


These latest convictions being overturned come as the man in charge of the public inquiry into the scandal seeks information from the Post Office.

Sir Wyn Williams is chairing the independent public inquiry tasked with getting to the bottom of why the Post Office brought so many of its employees to court, and why it fought against the overturning of those convictions for decades.

The Post Office had big legal teams working for them throughout the process, and Sir Wyn wants to see records of conversations between the Post Office and its lawyers to find out what was going on behind the scenes.

Those documents are protected by what's known as legal professional privilege, but Sir Wyn has asked the Post Office to give up that right.

The government and Fujitsu have said that's fine. The Post Office has been more cautious, saying it is willing "in principle" to waive that right, but not necessarily in every circumstance.

However, Sir Wyn has said if there is anything withheld by the Post Office that he considers relevant he may force them to reveal it publicly.

Many of the victims of this huge miscarriage of justice are seeing that as a sign that this might be an inquiry they can trust.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
×