A Fife victim of the Post Office scandal has called for bosses to be jailed.
Myra Philp and mother Mary were wrongly accused of stealing £70,000 from Auchtermuchty Post Office in 2002.
They lost their business and their home and endured years of suspicion within the village.
And Mary – a former policewoman – died in 2018, aged 83, without ever clearing her name.
Myra says they were told they were the only ones reporting problems with the Horizon IT system, despite evidence there were thousands of victims.
And Post Office auditors even suggested her own children were stealing from her.
She is furious she is still having to fight for compensation to recoup the money they lost.
And she said: “I think the people in charge of the Post Office at the time should be criminalised.
“They are evil, absolutely evil. They should go to jail and get a taste of their own medicine.”
Post Office scandal drama showed ‘just the tip of the iceberg’
Myra, 62, who gave evidence at the Post Office Horizon Inquiry, praised the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office.
The show, starring Toby Jones as former sub-postmaster Alan Bates, was aired over four nights last week.
And it has prompted many more victims to come forward.
Myra says the programme was very realistic but “just the tip of the iceberg”.
The Post Office computer system began showing a shortfall within weeks of Myra and Mary taking over the business.
“In the beginning my mother thought she was doing something wrong but it rapidly became apparent she wasn’t,” Myra said.
“Sometimes we were still there at 2am or 3am trying to make it work. It was horrendous.”
Their contract meant they were responsible for repaying any shortfall.
And Myra added: “There were several months where we couldn’t afford to pay the mortgage.”
‘Pensioners accused us of stealing from them’
Auditors arrived one Thursday morning as Myra prepared to open.
“It was just like you saw on the TV,” she said.
“A team of them turned up in their cars and demanded the keys. We were basically locked out of the Post Office counter.
“It was pension day. People were coming in with their pension books and were told to go away, so that started tongues wagging.
“My mother was suspended for false accounting and the auditors took over.
“They said things like ‘have you looked at your grandchildren, they could be stealing from you’. I started sleeping with the keys under my pillow.
“People were coming into the shop, saying ‘how could you, you’re stealing from pensioners’.
“My mum was a very proud woman and this badly affected her.”
‘I was told I was too late to apply for compensation’
Myra, who now runs an auction house in Methil, is still fighting for justice after more than two decades.
Victims were initially given just three months to apply for compensation.
“They wrote to my mum but she was already dead,” says Myra. “By the time I heard about the scheme I was told I was too late.
The fight will go on. It will have to.”
Myra Philp.
“I was enraged. They stole my money and wouldn’t even let me apply to have it back.”
Myra enlisted the help of Glenrothes SNP MP Peter Grant, who she described as “excellent” and she eventually spoke at the enquiry in 2022.
“I was the only person who spoke without a lawyer and I managed to get them to overturn the time-bar.
“For anybody who hasn’t yet come forward, I would urge them to do so because they aren’t alone anymore.”
The fight will go on for Fife Post Office scandal victim
Myra predicts she won’t know her compensation total until the end of the year.
However, she is now hopeful of a positive outcome.
“It’s sad it’s taken a drama to bring it fully into the public psyche,” she said.
“The Post Office has nowhere to hide now, which is a great thing.
“It’s so much worse than we saw in the drama for a lot of people and a lot of people are worse off than me.
“I was in tears during the final episode – my mum would have loved it.
“But the fight will go on. It will have to.”
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