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Gillian Blakey, a key player in the long-running investigation into the Horizon scandal, ran the Riby Square branch in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, for eight years from 1996 until a faulty IT system revealed a £65,000 shortfall.
Her engineer husband David, who balanced the account, was accused of stealing the money, and Post Office investigators suggested he spent it on a gambling addiction or on a mistress.
He denied stealing any money, but was charged with theft and false accounting, and Mrs Blakey was dismissed as deputy postmaster.
The theft charge was later dropped, but in 2005 Blakey was convicted of false accounting and given a nine-month suspended prison sentence. In 2021, his sentence was overturned.
Following his conviction, Blakey lost his full-time job, struggled to regain employment and was disowned by a close relative.
The couple lost their post office, house and car and were forced to move to a rented apartment.
David and Gillian Blakey seen above celebrating the Court of Appeal's ruling which overturned David's previous conviction in 2021.
Gillian Blakey wrote down her stresses to cope with the trauma of losing her job as a postmaster 17 years ago
In her 2022 witness statement, Ms Blakey stated: “The Post Office has robbed us of our business, livelihood and home.
“It robbed us of the chance for a peaceful, happy and prosperous retirement and of the chance to sell a successful business.”
Ms Blakey, who acted as part of an injunction brought by Sir Alan Bates in 2019, added that most of the compensation they received “covered legal costs, of which we are left with very little”.
The chairman of the inquiry, Sir Wyn Williams, said yesterday (WED): “In my judgment, Ms Blakey did not receive the additional compensation to which she was entitled under the GLO.
“This must be a source of great regret for all concerned.
“On behalf of all members of the investigation team and myself, I offer my deepest sympathies to all of Ms. Blakey's family and friends.”
Mr Blakey said yesterday his wife remained “overwhelmed with anger” at the behavior of most witnesses during the inquest and said she would like to see an end to delays in paying compensation to victims.
In a statement issued by his legal representative, Hudgell Solicitors: 'Gill followed every day of the investigation and her only real regret was that she was not able to live to see the end and see justice truly done.
Blakey added: “I don't think she was disappointed, but she was overcome with anger at the utter incompetence and disregard shown by most of the witnesses.
“I settled my case out of a bad heart and felt that by doing so we would at least have some money in the bank to enjoy. How life changes.
“I know Gill would urge the Post Office to get rid of all these programs and put an end to the delays in paying people the right wages.
“She would urge them to do the right thing before more people come through.”
The ruling came as Post Office chief executive Nick Read told an inquiry that the company's leading lawyer told him not to “dive into the details of the past” when he took up the post in 2019 following the controversial tenure of former boss Paula Vennells. .
Read, who will leave the company in March next year, admitted he was unaware of the “scale and enormity” of the scandal that saw more than 900 deputy postmasters and others prosecuted between 1999 and 2015 over flaws in Horizon's IT system. that money disappeared from the branch accounts.
When he took up the top job in 2019, the GLO group of 555 postal and Post Office sub-managers had just reached a climax with the company agreeing to pay £58m in compensation.
In his evidence to the inquiry, Mr Read said: “The private allegations were presented to me as a historical issue that ended before 2015 and that I did not need to go into detail about what had happened at the Post Office in the past because the conduct had ended “.
