A former sub-postmistress who had been wrongfully imprisoned, Seema Misra, during her pregnancy declined to accept an apology from the former Post Office MD, who congratulated the team behind her conviction. Misra was pregnant with her second child when she was given a 15-month prison sentence. She mentioned that David Smith, the then Post Office managing director, should apologise to her son who was ten when she was jailed.
During the Post Office Scandal inquiry, Mr Smith expressed remorse to Mrs Misra and regretted that his email sent after her sentence was “poorly thought through”. Although this was considered unacceptable by Misra, who wanted the apology to be given to her son for the psychological torture he underwent as a result of her imprisonment.
The scandal was publicised in 2019 when the Court of Appeal needed to quash the convictions of 39 individuals who were sued for allegedly questioning the reliability of the Horizon accounting system that the Post Office used. It was discovered that the convictions were likely to have been unsafe as the system had flaws that often created grievous errors. According to some sources, correcting the problem could have taken place in the early 2000s. The crisis led to the losses that were suffered by many sub-postmasters.
In conclusion, pursuant to the Post Office Scandal, the former Post Office boss apologised to Misra, who was detained while pregnant, for his poorly thought through email. Misra believes that Mr Smith’s apology should be directed at her son, who was traumatized by her imprisonment while he was only ten years old. The scandal led to the losses of many sub-postmasters who were suing the Post Office, an affair that has led to many recommendations and a scandal that was avoidable
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