'Wrongly jailed' Post Office clerk speaks of relief over settlement
A former Post Office clerk who says a computer glitch led to her being wrongly jailed for theft has spoken of her relief after her former employers have agreed to pay her compensation.
This week the Post Office agreed to pay out £58 million to more than 500 former workers who said they were falsely accused after problems with the company’s database caused major financial discrepancies in their accounts.
Among them was Tracy Felstead, from Telford, who was jailed for six months in 2001 after being accused of stealing £11,500 while a 19-year-old counter clerk.
Miss Felstead, who has protested her innocence ever since, says she now feels vindicated by the Post Office’s decision to agree an out-of-court settlement to end long-running legal action in the High Court.
She is still awaiting to hear how much she will receive. It is believed that, once legal costs have been taken into account, the claimants will be left with an average of £40-50,000, although it is likely that the payouts will vary between individual cases.
But Miss Felstead, whose conviction ended her hopes of a career in financial services, said no amount of money would make up for the ordeal she had suffered.
She said her next stage would be getting her conviction overturned, which she is pursuing through the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
Angry
Miss Felstead, now 37, said she reacted with a mixture of shock and disbelief when she was told the news on Wednesday.
“It was a bizarre feeling, this has been such a huge part of my life since I was 19,” she said.
“It’s the best Christmas present ever, but it’s been a long time coming. It’s been one of the best days of my life.
“I don’t feel bitter towards them, I feel angry what they have put me through, but you can’t change what has happened in the past.
“No amount of money and no amount of saying sorry is going to make up for what I have been through, but I can now tell everybody ‘I haven’t done it’.
Also seeking to clear her name is Rubbina Shaheen, who was jailed for 12 months in 2010 for false accounting over financial shortfalls at Greenfields Post Office where she worked as sub-postmistress.
Mrs Shaheen was not part of the action in the High Court, but said she now planned to lodge her own claim.
