Post Office scandal: postmaster fears dying before he gets justice

Sami Sabet, who owned three post offices in Shoreham and Brighton, was among the 700 people across the country who were convicted of fraud and/or theft because of the company’s faulty computer system.

After the ordeal, the 68-year-old suffered a heart attack, developed type two diabetes and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Mr Sabet, now retired, worries that he might die before getting justice for the trauma of the last 20 years.

He told The Argus: “I have been fearing this all the time, I have said it and written to people about dying before I get justice. I told my solicitors at one point that I'd had enough, this is affecting my health considerably. Just do whatever is best.

Mr Sabet on West Beach in Shoreham near one of his old post offices

“I had enough of trying to find information, I have had enough of this wrangling and haggling.

“This last year alone I have had four operations on my right eye. Four operations which resulted in me not being able to see very well from that eye. Already, the heart operation caused me to have severe peripheral vision loss, rendering me severely sight impaired.

“All these things are affecting my health, I still wake up at night thinking about it. It just brought everything back. This is a very great possibility that I could die at any time without this process concluding.”

Mr Sabet received a 12-month suspended prison sentence in 2009 after admitting two charges of fraud.

The conviction was eventually overturned at the Court of Appeal in 2021.

He told this paper in September last year that he did not want to accept the government’s £600,000 compensation offer and said there was “no value” that can be put on the losses and pain he and other sub-postmasters have been through.

Mr Sabet estimates that in total he lost £2.8 million from his three post offices which he ran in 2003. They were in Mill Lane, Portslade, as well as East Beach and West Beach in Shoreham.

Just after 2005, his post offices inexplicably started losing money. Mr Sabet said he ended up paying more than £100,000 to Post Office Limited and was relentlessly accused of stealing.

He used credit cards, took out loans, borrowed money off family and even worked as a petrol station toilet cleaner to stay afloat during this time.

Mr Sabet, from Rosslyn Road in Shoreham, did not realise that he was one of hundreds across the country who became victims due to the faulty Horizon IT system.

Sami Sabet outside his old shop in Ferry Road, Shoreham

He felt pressured to plead guilty at Lewes Crown Court in 2009 to avoid getting a custodial prison sentence. Mr Sabet was given a one-year prison sentence suspended for two years and ordered to do 180 hours of community service. Judge Charles Kemp told him that he had lost all of his good character in “spectacular fashion”.

Mr Sabet praised the “incredible reaction from the public” to ITV’s series Mr Bates vs The Post Office which was released last week, starring Toby Jones.

He also welcomed the news that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will consider measures to clear all 700 victims. Fewer than 100 people have had their convictions quashed.

Mr Sabet said: “When they quash the convictions, it will be marvellous but what will it do to everything else? Is this the right time or should it have been done two years ago? Is it another delaying tactic?”

He has written a book called Judge Me if You Can which tells his story.