Former Inverness postmaster gives evidence at Post Office Horizon IT inquiry as it moves to Glasgow
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A former Inverness postmaster told a public inquiry he was visited at home by two security guards who encouraged him to admit to false accounting.
Peter Worsfold (77) gave evidence to the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry which is hearing evidence in Glasgow having opened in London earlier this year.
In what has been described as "the most widespread miscarriage of justice in UK history", more than 700 sub-postmasters and mistresses in the UK were accused of theft and false accounting because of flaws in the organisation's IT system.
Some ended up in prison while others lost their jobs or went bankrupt.
The inquiry is looking into the cases which date back to between 2000 and 2014.
Mr Worsfold, who ran a post office in Inverness from 1997 to 2002, said he was notified of a £20,000 discrepancy in 2001.
He said it took three months before the Post Office flagged up the issue, and he was then suspended after he was unable to locate where the funds had gone.
He was then visited at his home by two security guards who claimed to have the same "jurisdiction" as police officers and cautioned him.
They gave him a few hours to pay the outstanding balance or face charges of false accounting, theft, and fraud.
"I was very worried and devastated," he said. "They told me that If I signed a statement admitting to false accounting and if I paid the shortfalls then the other charges would be dropped.
"They wouldn’t allow me to have a lawyer, they said I could have a friend, but they couldn’t speak.
Mr Worsfold said he was told the other charges would probably carry a sentence of imprisonment.
"I agreed to their terms," he said. "I was very worried because of my children. There would be nobody to look after them.
"They gave me a couple of hours to raise the money and then they returned, and I paid them over the money and signed the statement."
The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) wrote to 73 people in September 2020 with criminal convictions who had potentially been affected by issues arising from the Horizon system.
The inquiry, overseen by Sir Wyn Williams, continues today.
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