Sub-postmistress's wrongful conviction quashed

A former sub-postmistress from Merseyside has had her conviction overturned after a 20 year fight for justice, in the Horizon IT scandal.

Sushma Blaggan, 62, who ran Dale Acre Post Office in Litherland, was convicted over an unexplained shortfall of £8,000 in 2004.

She was ordered to carry out 240 hours of community service.

Speaking after the hearing she said: "Twenty years we waited for that. Now they know they were wrong, not us."

'Destroyed our lives'

Her conviction was one of six overturned on Wednesday - the day former Post Office boss Paula Vennells wept as she admitted to the ongoing public inquiry into the Horizon scandal that evidence she gave to MPs looking into problems with the IT system in 2012 was not true.

Ms Blaggan's hearing took place at a Southwark Crown Court hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

Narrinder Blaggan, Mrs Blaggan's husband, said: "For Sushma to have appeared in court two decades after being wrongfully prosecuted, and for an inquiry only to be hearing from Ms Vennells as to what went wrong on the very same day, just shows how badly subpostmasters have been let down."

"Sushma was destroyed by what happened to her.

"When she was first suspended she tried to commit suicide, and then she did so again after she had been convicted."

Mr Blaggan, now 58, was suspended from running a Post Office in Liverpool due to an unexplained shortfall in accounts, and was made to sell the branch and re-mortgage his home.

"It destroyed our lives," he said.

"This should have been prevented, and certainly justice should have been done for subpostmasters much quicker than this.

"We should have had answers and the full truth long ago."

Both Mr and Mrs Blaggan are expected to make bids for compensation from the Post Office.

The cases were referred by the Criminal Cases Review Commission in April.

Solicitor Neil Hudgell said Wednesday's exonerations are "a timely reminder of the huge harm done to the lives of innocent, hardworking members of the community, and why it is so important we get to the complete truth".

Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk