Betty Browne, the oldest surviving victim of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal, will receive an OBE at Windsor Castle today.
Brown was one of hundreds of sub-postmasters who were wrongly accused of theft, and was forced out of her County Durham branch in 2003 – despite she and her late husband having spent more than £50,000 of their savings to cover the losses, which did not occur.
The former sub-postmaster said, “This award will not be the Betty Brown Medal, but it will be for all the sub-postmasters we have lost”.
The Horizon IT system was responsible for the wrongful prosecution of over 900 sub-postmasters due to providing incorrect information. Thousands of people across the UK were forced to pay for alleged losses at their branches.
According to the government, more than a billion pounds has been paid out in compensation to victims of the scam.