The year is 2010. The desperate mother of four goes from shop to shop in the small English town of Cheltenham. She makes her preparations, before driving to a hill on the outskirts of town. She is going to the top, and starts walking. Wendy Buffrey has plans to do something drastic. – I had to put an end to it, because I thought I had let the family and everyone else down. But then the phone rings. It saves her life. The post office became a financial ruin A decade earlier, Wendy had bought a house with a post office on the ground floor on the outskirts of Cheltenham. It quickly became a focal point in the local community. People use these for far more than buying stamps and sending parcels. They meet neighbours, have a chat with those who work there, get help and support. People matter to each other. – It was fantastic, she recalls, a quarter of a century later. She has taken news to the white brick building that was once both her home and her job. She feels discomfort at being back. – I don’t want to be here, it will be too much. This was everything for me for over ten years. To have to walk away from this… To have it torn away… It’s very, very difficult. Very difficult, she repeats. Convicted innocent She was self-employed, and ran the post office on contract with the British Post Office. Wendy Buffrey in front of the post office she ran on the floor below the house she lived in. She lost everything in the British postal scandal. Photo: Gry Blekastad Almås / NRKWendy Buffrey in front of the post office she ran on the floor below the house she lived in. She lost everything in the British postal scandal. Photo: Gry Blekastad Almås / news To begin with, the accounting system was manual, but when the Swedish Post introduced a new computer system, strange things began to happen. The figures for Wendy and thousands of other postmasters around the UK went into the red. According to the computer system, Wendy Buffrey was suddenly missing £9,000 from her accounts. She contacted the Swedish Post and was told what to do. But when she did, the deficit doubled. She tried again, and it doubled once more. Now she suddenly owed 36,000 pounds, which corresponds to close to half a million Norwegian kroner. – I knew it wasn’t right, but I thought I had made a mistake. They were clear that this had not happened to anyone else, that I was the only one. But she wasn’t. It is believed that at least 4,000 postmasters had to pay back money they were accused of stealing from the Swedish Post. Between 700 and 900 were prosecuted and sentenced for embezzlement, in what is described as Britain’s biggest judicial murder. This is the British postal scandal Between 700 and 900 self-employed postmasters were wrongly convicted of defrauding the Swedish Post between 1999 and 2015. Many served prison terms and were financially ruined. The reason was that the computer system Horizon gave incorrect information that showed deficiencies in the settlements from the post offices. It was the Swedish Post itself that brought the cases against its former employees in more than 700 of the cases. The Swedish Post is under investigation for the handling of these charges. Among other things, it has emerged that those who led the cases received bonuses for each conviction. The former postmasters took the Swedish Post to court, and won the case in 2019. They were to receive compensation and the convictions were to be removed from the roll of those wrongly convicted. As of January 2024, only 95 of the convicted postmasters had had their sentences overturned. Many are still waiting for the financial compensation. In 2021, a public investigation of the case began, which is still ongoing. The UK’s Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has called the postal scandal “the most extensive criminal case they have ever seen and represents the single largest series of wrongful convictions in British legal history”. Just days after ITV aired the TV drama ‘Mr. Bates vs. The Post Office” in January 2024, the British Prime Minister announced a change in the law which will lead to a collective mass conversion of all convicted postmasters. The heads of the company Fujitsu, which was behind the computer system Horizon, have apologized to the victims. This also happened after the TV series had put the spotlight on the murder of justice. In Wendy Buffrey’s worst year, 2010, she had already lost her job. Now she also had to sell the house. The postal service insisted that she must pay back the deficit, which later turned out to be due to errors in the computer system. Then she was convicted of fraud. She pleaded guilty, even though she was innocent, to avoid prison time. She received 150 hours of community service and a criminal record. She picked up trash and people spat at her in contempt. So she hadn’t done anything wrong, but she doubted herself. She felt that she had failed everyone, and was very far down when she started to ascend the local hill. TV dramatization gets following On New Year’s this year, the reality of Wendy and hundreds of other postmasters was shown to the whole British people in the drama series Mr. Bates vs. The Post Office on ITV. Year-long battle: the TV drama “Mr. Bates vs. The Post Office” humanises the struggle the former postmasters have fought against the British Post Office and the judiciary. Photo: ITV The series, which will be available to Norwegian viewers on Britbox at the end of March, created violent reactions. A judicial murder that had already been discussed in the public eye gained a new and much larger audience. – Now that people have seen the series, they understand what we went through, says Buffrey. The attention put pressure on the government, which quickly promised that all those innocently convicted would have their sentences annulled and compensation paid out. The required legislative change is expected to enter into force in the summer. In the series, we meet, among others, Jo Hamilton, who experienced much the same as Wendy Buffrey. Her accounting figures were also negative, and doubled several times in the computer system when she tried to correct the error. Jo Hamilton’s story is very similar to Wendy Buffrey’s. She is one of the main characters portrayed in the TV drama about the history of judicial murder in Britain. Photo: Adrian Dennis / ReutersJo Hamilton’s story is very similar to Wendy Buffrey’s. She is one of the main characters portrayed in the TV drama about the historical murder of justice in Great Britain. Photo: Adrian Dennis / Reuters Just like Wendy, she was told that she was the only one who experienced this. And just like Wendy, she blamed herself. But then she was contacted by Alan Bates, who had also experienced this. He had realized that there were many of them with similar experiences, and had a clear suspicion that the computer system was the cause. And that the Swedish Post deliberately lied to each and every one of them. He gathered as many of the victims as possible to fight against the Postal Service and against the wrongful convictions. Jo Hamilton joined his campaign early on, and contacted other postmasters. The phone that saved lives It was Jo Hamilton who called Wendy Buffrey on the day she was on her way to the top of a hill outside Cheltenham to end her life. The false accusations led to major psychological problems, but Wendy Buffrey is doing better now. Photo: Gry Blekastad Almås / news She told Wendy that there were many who had experienced the same thing as her. It changed everything for the broken woman. – Two hours later I was back in the car. Then I had talked to her the whole way. Then I realized I wasn’t alone. – Did she understand that she saved your life? – I didn’t tell her until last year. Then she cried, and gave me a hug. She saved many of us, says Wendy Buffrey. Tragedy and success actress Monica Dolan is the actress who plays Jo Hamilton in the TV series. She has spent a lot of time with the real Hamilton and got to know her as a woman who thinks a lot about others. Actress Monica Dolan is moved to tears by Wendy’s story. She plays Jo Hamilton in the TV series about the British postal scandal. Photo: Håvard Blekastad Almås / NRKS Actress Monica Dolan is moved to tears by Wendy’s story. She plays Jo Hamilton in the TV series about the British postal scandal. Photo: Håvard Blekastad Almås / news We ask Dolan if she was aware that Jo Hamilton saved the life of Wendy Buffrey. – Uh … no, she answers questioningly. We explain the situation when Jo called Wendy in her desperation. Tears roll down the actor’s face. – It was a good thing Jo got through to Wendy. At least four people killed themselves because of this case. Dolan is happy that the series has had consequences politically and thus for the victims. – It’s an unusual feeling that a TV series has an impact on reality. Thank God that people have become angry watching the drama series. Anger is an energy that has caused the government to change the law, so that the sentences are overturned and people get compensation. – How does it feel to be part of such a breakthrough? – I am proud of that. People are surprised, but I’ve always believed that a drama can make people see things in a new way and that it can affect reality. From spitting to compassion Wendy Buffrey fought her way back into working life after completing her community sentence. Three years ago the sentence was annulled, but the many years as a “criminal” have left their mark. – There are no words. Being blamed for something you didn’t do and then losing everything because of it makes something inside you die. Something you will never get back. Now she has accepted an offer of compensation, but is still waiting for the payment. In all the years since the mail scandal hit, Wendy Buffrey has felt people’s eyes. Even after the verdict was overturned, she has sensed people’s doubts. “No smoke without fire”. “There’s definitely something in it.” But after the TV series, that has changed. – Excuse me, but are you the woman who used to run the Hatherly post office, asks a woman who approaches Wendy in the park where she tells news her story. Wendy Buffrey confirms, and Jackie Hodgin says bluntly what many Britons now feel after watching the TV drama about Wendy’s reality: – It’s an absolute shame.
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The British postal scandal: The judicial murder of the times – Urix
