By Jessica Frank-Keyes
A victim of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal in Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey’s constituency has revealed his experiences left him “suicidal”.
Anger has continued to swirl over the most widespread UK miscarriage of justice which saw hundreds wrongfully convicted, with pressure on former Post Office minister Davey growing.
The party leader is facing demands to return his knighthood after a sub-postmaster affected by the crisis told LBC Radio he tried to contact his MP three times and did not hear back.
Sathyan Shiju, Tolworth postmaster from 2001 to 2006, in Davey’s Kingston and Surbiton seat, was accused of allowing £20,000 to go missing from the tills; lost his Post Office branch; faced a “horrendous amount” of abuse; was spat on and had fruit and eggs thrown at him.
He told the broadcaster his mental health was damaged, saying: “I became suicidal… in one of my low moments my daughter caught me… otherwise I wouldn’t be here to talk to you.
“I am slowly recovering, but my morale and confidence is rock bottom. I still want justice for what they did to me.”
Shiju, who said he has not received any compensation so far, also revealed to LBC that he tried to reach out to Sir Ed on three occasions but did not receive a response.
“He refused to talk to me, I had no chance to talk to him. I tried three times,” he said. “He just completely ignored me… I was going through my worst nightmare and I was looking for someone to talk to, and somebody to believe me. Ed Davey should have talked to me.”
The former sub-postmaster, who now works as an area pharmacy manager, was asked whether Davey should return the knighthood over his role in the Post Office scandal, said: “I don’t know who decides who gets knighted.. Paula [Vennells] handed it back, and I can see she has a guilty conscience.”
A Liberal Democrat spokesman said: “We don’t have any record of this, and Ed will be reaching out to Shiju to find out exactly what happened. What Shiju and so many postmasters and their families have been through is appalling.”
They added: “Ed is fighting hard on behalf of a postmaster in his constituency to help him overturn his conviction and get the compensation he deserves.
“Ed has said previously, he wishes that he knew then what we all know now. It is a source of deep pain for Ed that so many innocent lives were ruined by the Post Office’s lies.”
