Emma SimpsonBusiness correspondent
BBC
Janet Skinner suffered a neurological collapse and used a wheelchair for a year
A victim of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal who was temporarily paralysed after the stress of her ordeal has been offered 15% of her compensation claim.
Janet Skinner was wrongly convicted of false accounting in 2007 and sentenced to nine months in prison after the faulty software said £59,000 had gone missing from her branch account in Hull.
She has now received an offer of full financial redress – but it is a fraction of what she had claimed. “I cried and I cried… it’s trauma on top of trauma,” she told the BBC.
The government said it made every effort to make full and fair offers to all claimants.
But according to Ms Skinner’s lawyer, all the high-value complex claims are being fought “tooth and nail”.
“They’ve taken a particularly cruel approach to Janet’s case,” claims Simon Goldberg, from Simons Muirhead Burton.
The mother-of-two lost her home, her livelihood and served two months in prison.
A year after her release, she was back in the dock facing another jail sentence as the Post Office pursued her for failing to pay “proceeds of crime”.
Less than a fortnight after the matter was resolved, she suffered a neurological collapse, was paralysed from the neck down and used a wheelchair for a year.
“My immune system had broken down, basically my body attacked itself,” said Ms Skinner.
‘I’m in pain all the time’
It took her two years to learn how to walk again but she has been unable to work because of ongoing problems with her health and mobility issues.
“I’m in pain all the time. It’s changed my life completely,” she said.
She said she misses being able to spray her deodorant or hairspray because of the damage to her hands. Her son helps with visits to the bathroom and she often has to get down the stairs on her bottom.
Her conviction was quashed in 2021 but it has taken more than four and a half years to prepare her claim, including being asked to submit five medical reports.
A hearing took place earlier this year where, according to her legal team, the Post Office finally accepted these expert reports, which concluded her ill health had been triggered by the extreme stress that she had suffered.
The size of Ms Skinner’s claim has not been revealed, though it is very significant.
“The sticking points are almost every element of her claim,” said Mr Goldberg.
The biggest contested issues include her loss of earnings and future care costs.
The Department for Business and Trade recently took over responsibility for delivering redress for sub-postmasters whose convictions were overturned by the courts, including Ms Skinner’s case.
A spokesperson said it did not comment on individual cases, but that it took every effort to make full and fair offers. An independent dispute resolution process was available to all applicants who were not content with their offer, they said.
More than £1bn worth of compensation has already been paid out to more than 8,000 victims.
The bulk of these payouts has been in the form of uncontested fixed payouts, either £75,000 or £600,000 depending on the severity of the case.
Janet Skinner
Ms Skinner met Rishi Sunak at Downing Street last year when he was prime minister to discuss the scandal
Complex claims are proving far harder to settle. Victims and their legal teams allege government and Post Office-appointed lawyers are dragging things out to minimise payouts – something ministers consistently deny.
“It’s not saving the public purse a penny. It’s actually costing the public purse in the medium term,” claims Ms Skinner’s lawyer, arguing that hundreds of millions of pounds have already been racked up in legal fees by big City law firms handling the claims, as well as legal fees paid to victims’ solicitors.
Mr Goldberg has written to Darren Jones MP, who he says was a champion of the wronged sub-postmasters while in opposition. He is now effectively the prime minister’s right hand man.
“The only way to resolve this is political pressure from the very top,” said Mr Goldberg.
Ms Skinner has already rejected her offer and says, if need be, she is prepared to go to court if she does not receive sufficient redress for everything that she’s been through.
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