Dionne Henderson’s Story: From Business Success to Fighting for Justice Against the Post Office

Initial positivity

I was born and raised in South Shields, in the North East of England and have always been business-minded. I had been self-employed as a teenager and sang professionally in a band however, I wanted to settle down, so my former partner and I bought a Post Office branch in 2006 just a few minutes from where I lived.

Community integration and expansion

Our initial venture became very much at the heart of the community, and it went very well, so when the Post Office offered us a bigger branch ten minutes away from the first one, we saw it as the opportunity to build on our success. We had cashpoints installed shortly after launching – this is where the trouble started. 

Defective Horizon system

Initial issues and reporting

We soon noticed that there were some shortfalls when we were doing the accounts. I made good a lot of the losses myself by rolling over the differences, but I was constantly reporting the problems to the area manager and calling the Horizon helpline without any success.

Escalation of problems

It got to the point where I owed tens of thousands of pounds. It made no sense because I kept going over and analysing the figures and was sure that there were no errors on my part, however, the system recorded otherwise. In April 2010, I eventually said I would not pay what the Post Office alleged was owed without a valid explanation as to how and why this was the case.

Audits and suspension

This hint at disobedience led to the Post Office immediately sending auditors to both of my branches.

I was initially suspended from both branches as a precaution during a telephone conversation with my regional manager.

Forced removal an resignation

Following this call, I was forcefully removed from one of my branches and all of my staff witnessed the ordeal. I was extremely humiliated and upset at the way I was treated. 

A short while later I was suspended without pay from both branches (and ultimately forced to resign from both branches) because they thought I had been involved in stealing the money relating to the shortfalls. I could not believe what they were saying.

From the date of the audits, Post Office took the keys for both branches, and I was not allowed back into the secure Post Office areas of both branches.

Public reaction

Community backlash

It was horrific – this was close to where I grew up and people in the community knew me very well. My mother worked in a shop in the town and a lot of people blamed me for the post offices closing until a temporary subpostmaster was appointed because so many people relied on the business.

Financial and emotional impact

Luckily, I was able to quickly sell the first post office however, I owned the building for the second one which made it more complicated, and the Post Office did not make it easy for me to sell it. I had lost almost a quarter of a million pounds through the sales and was facing bankruptcy.

Media coverage and relocation

The closure of branches was later reported in the local newspaper in 2013. This made things even worse as it reignited all the hatred I had endured (which included name calling and being spat at in the street).

I was compelled to move away the area because I didn’t want to be seen to have anything further to do with these branches and the tragedy this incident had caused. I eventually moved out of the town altogether to downsize to somewhere cheaper following the debts that occurred. I went to some of the Justice for Postmasters Alliance (JFSA) meetings, but I found them distressing and I just wanted to move forward.

Quest for justice

Initial mediation attempts

I took part in the initial mediation which was a shambles because I believe that Post Office had no intention of negotiating in good faith and had no intention within the mediation of hearing any evidence about why the Horizon system might be defective.

Contributions to reports and litigation

I also contributed to Second Sight’s Report and was part of the group litigation action against Post Office led by Sir Alan Bates, so I did everything I could to seek justice every step of the way. But it all took its toll on me.  

Progress

Group litigation success

The group litigation action was successful in helping prove that the Horizon system was flawed (with the Judge commenting in a judgment that he “found that bugs, errors and defects in Horizon rendered it unreliable and had the potential to cause discrepancies in subpostmasters' accounts”, 

Settlement and compensation scheme

Post Office eventually settled that case at the end of 2019, however, because the litigation was funded via the use of a litigation funder, it meant that a large portion of the settlement proceeds did not go to the claimants. It felt like the nightmare would never end, but, following significant lobbying, that settlement proved to be the catalyst for the government to implement a compensation scheme for those Subpostmasters that participated within the group action. The purpose of that scheme was to assess the true extent of the losses caused to these individuals as a result of Post Offices actions, and to pay them redress to recover the full amount they have lost.  

Personal closure and encouragement

When Freeths put my claim together as part of that scheme, I finally got some closure, and I can’t fault them.

Everyone has a complicated case but with two offices, I had a lot of details, documents, and emails and Freeths gave me the first chance to finally try and prove that I was right.

The lawyers encouraged me to claim for everything that I was entitled to and it was very therapeutic for me.

I had felt so ashamed throughout the whole process with the Post Office, but I would now wholeheartedly urge everyone affected to come forward. There are so many points with the Post Office where you feel they are pushing you back and there are a lot of ups and downs but with the right people from Freeths offering support, I urge any other’s to not give up hope. 

Don’t be afraid and don’t be ashamed. This has taken nearly 15 years of my life – and finally justice is being served to the Post Office. I have plenty of life ahead of me now, luckily, after putting it on hold for so long and I can move forward.

Sir Alan Bates on why to choose Freeths?