A victim of the Horizon scandal has said the battle to get compensation from the Post Office has been like ‘fighting a war’.

Former subpostmaster Lee Castleton, who was pursued through the courts, went bankrupt and had his family’s life torn apart, said he and other victims of the scandal had been ‘traumatised’.

Mr Castleton, who ended up being ordered to repay money and legal costs to the tune of £321,000 despite doing nothing wrong, said he was ‘really, really angry’ and called on more help for those caught up in the nightmare.

He made the remarks on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme amid renewed interest in the scandal in the wake of an ITV dramatisation about how dozens of subpostmasters had their lives turned upside down.

Earlier on the same programme Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the Government was ‘looking at’ the option of exonerating all of those prosecuted by the Post Office and called it ‘an appalling miscarriage of justice’. 

Lee and Lisa Castleton, pictured here with their children CJ and Millie at their daughter’s graduation. The family were put through a grotesque ordeal when the Castletons were the victims of a computer system error which the Post Office said meant they owed thousands of pounds

Lee Castleton, pictured here on Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg today, said victims of the scandal had been ‘traumatised’

More than 700 Post Office branch managers were handed criminal convictions after faulty Fujitsu accounting software called Horizon made it appear as though money was missing from their outlets.

Among those caught up in the scandal was Mr Castleton and his wife Lisa, months after they took over a branch of the Post Office in the seaside town of Bridlington in East Yorkshire in 2003.

The pair, who are played by Will Mellor and Amy Nuttall in the new four-part drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, were forced to close the shop and sell their house to cover legal fees.

Additionally, Mrs Castleton was left suffering from stress-induced seizures, while the couple’s children, Millie and Cameron, were forced to move schools due to bullying. 

Speaking to Kuenssberg, Mr Castleton said the battle to get compensation following the scandal was ‘like a war’ and described the situation as ‘combative’.

He said: ‘The victims are traumatised. It has been a long time of 25 years and £135 million has been paid to some of the victims, but we have had £150 million-plus paid to lawyers.

‘These lawyers are putting lots of pressure and it is difficult. The schemes are difficult.

‘We are just normal run-of-the-mill people. We have legal people with us but it is so difficult and it is like a war.

‘Why would anybody put the Post Office and DBT (the Department for Business and Trade) in charge of recompensing the victims?’

The Castletons’ plight, along with other subpostmasters, has been made the focus of a new ITV series called Mr Bates vs The Post Office. Pictured: Toby Jones with other members of the cast in a promotional image for the programme

He added that he felt the compensation scheme for victims should be taken away from the organisations currently running it.

Mr Castleton said ‘a completely isolated, separate review and compensation scheme just makes more sense’.

‘I would love it to be taken out of the hands of the people that really caused it in a way,’ he said.

‘This is not just a computer issue, this is a people issue.

‘People took people to court. People made decisions based on faulty data that they probably knew was faulty.

‘There are so many differences, so many problems out there that really, to have a completely isolated, separate review and compensation scheme just makes more sense.’

The father-of-two added that he was ‘really, really angry’ but hopes there may now be increased public support for the cause.

He said: ‘I hope that pressure comes to bear, that’s what we’ve tried to do for years. It has been very difficult to be able to push our cause.

‘We are just people from your village shop or your local post office. It is really hard to draw up support and it has been very difficult to get people to believe.’

He added: ‘I would like people to contact their MP and put pressure on people to help us. The group has always needed help. We’ve had some fantastic people help us through this along the way and people that continue to help us. 

‘If there is one thing I have learned, it is that support makes this work. It is very lonely being the only one, as the Post Office would constantly tell each of the victims.

‘Now we are together in this and we just need to keep walking forward no matter what the punches are, no matter how hard the war gets. We just need to keep pushing.’

The couple are portrayed by Amy Nuttall (third left) and Will Mellor (fourth left) in a new ITV drama

 His comments came after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak revealed the option of exonerating all postmasters was being ‘looked at’ by the Justice Secretary.

Asked if the Government would remove the Post Office’s ability to investigate and prosecute, he said: ‘The Justice Secretary is looking at the things that you’ve described, it wouldn’t be right to pre-empt that process, obviously there’s legal complexity in all of those things but he is looking at exactly those areas.’

Earlier in the programme, Mr Sunak said: ‘Everyone has been shocked by watching what they have done over the past few days and beyond and it is an appalling miscarriage of justice.

‘Obviously it’s something that happened in the ’90s but actually seeing it and hearing about it again just shows what an appalling miscarriages of justice it is for everyone affected and it’s important that those people now get the justice they deserve, and that’s what the compensation schemes are about.

‘The Government has paid out about £150 million to thousands of people already. Of course we want to get the money to the people as quickly as possible, that’s why there are interim payments of up to, I think, £600,000 that can be made.

‘There are three different schemes available and for anyone affected they should come forward.’