i i was given a nine month custodiall sentence, so three months in prison and the rest on home curfew. it s affected everything i of my life going forward for the past 16 years. my name is scott darlington. i ran alderley edge post office for four years from 2005. i was suspended in 2009, convicted in 2010. i couldn t get a job for three and a half years after that. i couldn t afford to pay for my daughter s school uniform. i suffered awful stigma and embarrassment and financial distress ever since. and i m glad that things have come to a head and we re able to speak about it now. my name is varchas patel. i m here on behalf of my father, vipin patel of oxford. he was wrongfully prosecuted
it s affected everything i of my life going forward for the past 16 years. my name is scott darlington. i ran alderley edge post office for four years from 2005. i was suspended in 2009, convicted in 2010. i couldn t get a job for three and a half years after that. i couldn t afford to pay for my daughter s school uniform. i suffered awful stigma and embarrassment and financial distress ever since. and i m glad that things have come to a head and we re able to speak about it now. my name is varchas patel. i m here on behalf of my father, vipin patel of oxford. he was wrongfully prosecuted by post office ltd in 2011 and his health is completely shattered. it s only going to get worse, and he s not yet
yes, certainly with my parents, definitely. vipin patel was wrongly accused of fraud in 2009 and said he felt he was spoken to differently because of his race. there were times up and down when it did feel like there is no doubt about it, but i wouldn t. it s very difficult when you are talking to people on the phone because you don t see them in a picture or something. you don t know what their body language is or attitude is, but it s the voice that makes you feel, the tone of the voice makes you feel whether this person is talking down to you or being helpful or something like that. however, the picture isn t clear. in 2022, the post office released a summary of a76 people who had been convicted. of the 316 who had provided their ethnicity, 123 were of black, asian and minority ethnic background. that s almost a0%. how many postmasters are from a minority background is not exactly known.