I was jailed while pregnant because of the post office scandal

Sub-postmistress Seema Misra was eight weeks pregnant with her second child when she was jailed over the flawed Horizon system – a conviction that then-post office director David Smith described in an email to colleagues in 2010 as “brilliant news” described. Fourteen years later, Ms Misra’s conviction was overturned and at the inquest in April Mr Smith publicly apologized to her for the email, which he admitted was “poorly thought out”.

However, Ms Misra rejects these “empty words”. “The apology honestly doesn’t mean anything,” she said. “We’ve been through this for so long and no one has ever come knocking on my door and apologized properly.

“Only now that it is in the media, with the nation watching them, do they have to apologise. They don’t mean it; it’s just become a kind of ritual.

“You know when someone says sorry for something, and you feel it in your heart? I didn’t feel that at all. Until then, I will not accept any apology.”

Read Next

As for what she thinks should happen next, Ms Misra, who lives in Surrey, wants those responsible to be held to account.

“We will not rest until the perpetrators are behind bars,” she said. “They sent me to jail very quickly, so right now it seems like it’s a country with two laws: one for the common man, and one for the powerful. Good accountability will bring some peace of mind.”

Mrs. Misra spoke to i at the Women of the Year awards in London, where she and her fellow female sub-postmasters were recognized for their collective efforts in their campaign for justice for all those wrongly convicted in the Post Office scandal.

More than 700 post office operators have been convicted based on evidence from the Horizon computer system, of which around 100 have been destroyed so far. Sixty of the scandal’s victims died before any justice was found; at least four took their own lives.

Ms. Misra says she could have been one of them. “If I hadn’t been pregnant, I would have killed myself,” she admits. “Going to prison – I couldn’t bring that shame on my family. The local newspaper described me as a ‘pregnant thief who robbed pensioners’, and my husband was beaten up three times as a result. Friends stopped talking to us. I couldn’t believe what was happening.”

Ms Misra and her husband, Davinder, had been trying to conceive for almost a decade before she discovered she was pregnant during her trial. “I always try to find a reason for everything, and I think someone up there knew what was going to happen,” she says. “They got me pregnant to keep me here; they knew that was the only reason I would stay around. And maybe God wanted some strong kids to come forward and help me fight the post office.”

It was her eldest son’s tenth birthday when she was sent to prison. “I dropped him off at school in the morning and told him we will celebrate in the evening because I have faith in the system,” she says.

“I didn’t take any bags with me because I thought, why would someone be sent to prison for a crime they never committed? I really thought I would come back.

“When they said ‘prison’ I completely lost it. If I could tell the truth and still be in prison, I would realize that anything is possible in this world.”

Ms Misra, now 47, spent four and a half months in Bronzefield prison and was still wearing an electronic tag when she gave birth to her second son.

As well as the ongoing investigation into the Post Office, which is due to conclude at the end of this year, the scandal has also been thrust into the public spotlight by ITV’s Mr. Bates versus the Post Office.

“Since the drama came out, the support has been tremendous,” said Ms Misra. “It feels like the whole country is behind us. When I felt down, it really meant a lot.”

The mutual support of fellow sub-postmasters has also been crucial. “Every time we see each other it feels like a family reunion,” she says. “But we also have several WhatsApp groups, so you can always talk to someone who naturally understands what you feel. We have such a deep bond and feel so connected.”

Looking to the future, Ms. Misra isn’t sure what she wants to do next, but she knows she wants to help others. “Maybe it has something to do with supporting people who are going through dark days,” she says.

She is sure of one thing: we should not stop talking about the post office scandal; We cannot let this pass from the public’s attention – not until full justice is served for every victim. As she says, “The battle is still going on.”