Post Office victims/survivors and families have experienced deep trauma and are often left feeling revictimised, study shows

Post Office victims/survivors and families have experienced deep trauma and can be left feeling revictimised, study shows.

New University of Exeter and UCL research shows how deeply lives have and continue to be affected by the scandal.

It shows how the trauma of the Post Office’s misconduct has rippled out through victims families’ lives and how many have been revictimised at each stage of their fight for justice. The report lays bare how the stigma of false accusation and financial ruin devastated the lives of subpostmasters and those close to them.

It also shows how having to engage with an adversarial legal system to fight for justice, and bureaucratic and slow redress schemes, have often caused secondary and re-victimisation.

Their experiences means there is a need to reform the legal system so it better serves victims, the experts say.

The research report outlines how delays to justice, and legalistic and adversarial procedures have caused and exacerbated psychological and emotional harm.

This has left many subpostmasters feeling retraumatised over the years. They are distrustful of the institutions of government and mechanisms of justice, as well as the Post Office and, whilst many have drawn positives from the Inquiry, some don’t yet feel they have the full truth about what happened.

The researchers say the generational trauma caused from the scandal needs to be “recognised, addressed, and appropriately responded to”.

Concerns about proper and fair compensation were critical for many of the subpostmasters interviewed, but their concerns were also much broader and included for many:

• Wanting to see criminal convictions for those involved from the Post Office.
• Their being barred from holding senior management or oversight roles in future.
• Financial consequences, such as paying back bonuses or losing pensions.
• Lawyers involved in their prosecutions to be struck off.
• Particpation in meaningful restorative justice.

Many hoped for better systems of oversight in large organisations in the future, so a similar scandal couldn’t happen again, or legislative changes around companies keeping computer evidence and having a duty of candour (the Hillsborough Law), and individuals facing personal liability. Several spoke of prohibiting private prosecutions.

Those who took part in the research said the scandal had fundamentally changed them. It had often damaged relationships with partners, children, friends, other family members, and wider communities. They spoke of experiencing “anxiety attacks,” “psychiatric illness,” “alcohol misuse,” “breakdowns,” gaps in memory, “not sleeping,” hallucinations and “visions,” “night tremors,” “sleepwalking” and “crying all the time”. Some detailed the daily difficulties of living with PTSD, such as having to manage being triggered, through being in enclosed spaces or seeing someone who “looked like the investigator” they had.

Many were experiencing ‘survivor guilt’, but have found solace and comfort in the solidarity they have with other victims and survivors. This has been vital to morale and saved lives. 

The report, by Dr Sally Day, Professor Richard Moorhead and Professor Rebecca Helm, from the University of Exeter, and Dr Karen Nokes, from UCL, was carried out as part of their Post Office Project. They interviewed 26 former subpostmasters, 6 partners, 2 children, and 1 sibling.

Dr Day said: “We would like to express our deepest and heartfelt thanks to all those who agreed to help us in this project. What is clear from our interviews is the complex harms experienced by those affected and their loved ones. We found adversity and sacrifice, but also stories of determination, hope, and solidarity.”

Professor Moorhead said,“The thing that stands out from this work is the way an unjust accusation by the Post Office has spread through the lives of those accused and their families. With the exception of the ongoing Inquiry, formal responses have tended to be cold and adversarial, which has been harmful to victims.”

Dr Nokes said: “Many subpostmasters went from being highly respected and central to their local community to being publicly vilified, and labelled a thief, for something they hadn’t done. Some experienced aggressive and distressing harassment and victimisation, including being spat at, and receiving abusive letters, phone calls and emails. There were clear ‘ripple effects’ – the reputational damage often extended to their families and people affected couldn’t get away from the stigma.”

This work builds on two previous studies conducted by this project team. One documented high levels of PTSD and depression among victims and survivors. A follow-up survey in 2024 examined the ripple-effectof harms from the scandal on ‘secondary victims’ such as partners and children, who had similar, extraordinary levels of PTSD and depression.

Subpostmasters described the impact of being viewed as wrongdoers and shunned by their communities. Some had strong support from neighbours, but for many local and sometimes national media coverage generated stigma they could not remove.

This vilification planted seeds of doubt in the minds of some families and friends, who didn’t question the authority of the Post Office. One subpostmaster was outcast by their grandparents, having been very close, they stopped speaking to them and turned “their back on other family members who went to court with me”. Many of those interviewed described being too fearful to leave their homes, or having to move away from their homes.

One said: “I had to move away from the area because…the first morning after I was suspended and I walked down the street to get my newspaper, a gentleman that used to come in for his pension, he looked at me and he didn’t even answer, I said, ‘good morning,’ and he spat at me, straight in my face and he said, ‘We’re going to lose my post office,’ with a mouth full of other obscene words, ‘because of you.’ I thought, Jesus, is this what I’m getting, so I had no choice then.”

Some participants experienced aggressive, and at times violent, harassment. Examples included having posters of themselves with accusations printed on put up around their community, trespassing and damage to their properties, graffiti and having their windows smashed. Quite a few spoke about being “spat at,” and some received threatening letters, phone calls, and emails. Some experienced “racism” and “intimidation.”

The financial impact of the miscarriage of justice affected all those interviewed. Many were left destitute, losing life savings, businesses and homes. Participants spoke about being forced to borrow money from friends and family, remortgage homes, “taking loans,” and having “to sell everything”.

The scandal had contributed to some relationships and friendships becoming stronger, but others ending, and some spoke of loved ones who they felt had been driven to an early grave due to the actions of the Post Office.

Many participants spoke of the community and bonds that have been forged amongst the victim/survivor group, and that in some cases this has saved lives. One participant shared their ‘sliding doors’ moment when they were about to take their life:

“I still had my phone with me…And my phone went, and it was Jo Hamilton…And she said, ‘oh, I’m Jo Hamilton.’ And I said, ‘what are you trying to sell?’ basically (laughter). And she said, ‘no, I’m a subpostmistress and the same that’s happened to you has happened to me.’ And she spoke to me about the JFSA. She spoke to me about Alan. She spoke to me and told me about all of these other people. And two and a half hours later, I was still on the phone to her.”

This story speaks in the starkest terms to the human suffering and the importance of human responses to that suffering. Many highlighted the beneficial impacts the media had, especially the ITV drama, and coverage of the Post Office Inquiry in helping the vicitms strat to overcome the stigma of the Post Office’s unjust accusations against them.