Wrongly jailed post-office clerk to address Horizon inquiry
A former Midlands post office worker who was wrongly jailed for stealing £11,500 is to tell a public inquiry about the impact the miscarriage of justice has had on her life.
Tracy Felstead, of Bournside Drive, Telford, is to give evidence at the long-awaited inquiry into the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry, which opens on Monday.
The inquiry, headed by retired High Court judge Sir Wyn Williams, was called after glitches with a computer system saw 72 Post Office staff wrongly convicted of crimes such as theft and false accounting.
The inquiry will look at how 3,000 staff, mainly sub-postmasters, were wrongly blamed for financial discrepancies which had been created by a fault with the Post Office's database, known as Horizon.
Rubbina Shaheen, 56, who ran Greenfields Post Office, in Shrewsbury, was jailed for 12 months in 2010 for false accounting.
Carl Page, 55, who kept the Anson Street post office in Rugeley, Staffordshire, was jailed for two years in 2007 after being accused of stealing £94,000.
Miss Felstead, now 39, will give an impact statement on how her life has been affected by the ordeal on February 25.
She was an 18-year-old counter clerk when she was arrested in February 2001, and was jailed for six months later that year.
Miss Felstead has previously spoken about how she tried to take her own life on two occasions, and how her conviction ended her hopes of a career in financial services.
This week it was revealed that Tim Parker would be stepping down from his role as chairman of the Post Office.
Along with former chief executive, Paula Vennells, Mr Parker oversaw an aggressive legal strategy to contest claims against the Post Office.
Mr Parker, who took over as chairman in 2015, will leave his post in the autumn.
