Campaigners for justice in the Post Office scandal have said they will “never give in” after receiving OBEs in the new year honours list.
Lee Castleton, Seema Misra, Chris Head and Jo Hamilton were all honoured for services to justice. The lead campaigner, Sir Alan Bates, was knighted earlier this year.
Hundreds of Post Office branch operators were persecuted and some prosecuted when the faulty Horizon IT system reported shortfalls in their funds. Many are still awaiting compensation.
Castleton, from Bridlington, East Yorkshire, was made bankrupt after the system reported that £25,000 was missing from his branch in 2004. His case featured in the hit ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office.
He said: “Sometimes you have to step forward and shout as loud as you can because some of our group aren’t able to do that. I’m very honoured and very proud.
“Obviously, it’s one of those things where it’s not the end. It’s just sad that it’s been prolonged and protracted by the other side and it would be nice to just draw a line under everything with something like this – but onwards and upwards.”
Misra was jailed when she was pregnant after evidence provided by the Horizon system was accepted as evidence of her guilt over a charge of stealing £74,000 from her branch in West Byfleet, Surrey, in 2005. Misra was released early for good behaviour and gave birth to her second child wearing an electronic tag.
She said: “I used to say ‘God, why me?’ because I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong. I laugh about it now but I came up with the answer myself – God probably wants some strong people to come forward to fight the Post Office. So it’s definitely given me a purpose in life.”
Head was falsely accused on the basis of the Horizon system of stealing more than £80,000 from his branch in West Bolden, near Sunderland, in 2006 before his case was dropped.
At 18, he had been the youngest branch operator when he took over. He was pursued by the Post Office through the civil courts over the shortfall.
He said: “It is a huge honour when I got the letter a few weeks ago. But what we need to utilise is what Sir Alan said when he received his, that it’s like another string to the bow.
“People will recognise you a little bit more and we can push on to try and fix all the remaining outstanding problems, and unfortunately there are still quite a lot of them across the various compensation schemes.”
• This article was amended on 31 December 2024. An earlier version stated incorrectly that Seema Misra gave birth in prison.
