In all my years working for the ‘Cambrian News’ I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone like Alun Lloyd Jones.

The former Llanfarian subpostmaster affected by the Horizon Post Office scandal has also experienced the unimaginable loss of two of his children and survived a heart attack.

Knowing this, I expect Alun to have a weariness about him when we meet, but his dogged determination to fight for justice for other Horizon victims has given him the energy and appearance of someone decades younger.

Rather than sit back and relax after receiving his compensation, the 79-year-old former Ceredigion County Councillor is doing the opposite, fighting for fellow subpostmasters caught up in the Horizon scandal.

“I just want to highlight how many people are still suffering,” said Alun.

Explaining how he got caught up in the scandal, he said: “I was working for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals and took early retirement. I’d always wanted to run a post office. I was county councillor for Llanfarian at the time the village lost theirs. I’d been asked as a councillor if there was anything I could do to restore the service, so I took it over. Blaenplwyf had issues too and they wanted me to take that on, so I did. It was all fine until they brought out Fujitsu’s Horizon system, and boy did things go wrong.

“The more I asked the Post Office for help, the less I got. That’s if you could get through to the helpline because it was permanently engaged. It makes sense why now, as there were obviously lots of us going through this.”

What ‘this’ was was the worrying difference between the amount of money Horizon said each subpostmaster should have, and the actual amount in their possession.

“Every week you had to sign a document to say what you had in your safe, and that went to Post Office headquarters,” Alun recalls.

“I didn’t have the amount the system said I had so I refused to sign, because that would be fraud. That’s what saved me, or I would have been taken away in handcuffs like the others.

“The detective inspector in charge in Aberystwyth lived nearby and I went to see him. I thought, there’s either been a break-in or a member of staff has taken some money. There was nearly £20,000 missing.

“The police came, spoke to staff, and gave me a crime number, which I wanted to cover myself. They said they couldn’t see signs of a break-in but they did interview a staff member, poor man. It had nothing to do with him.

“I contacted Post Office auditors and asked them to audit me. They said it wasn’t for me to ask, but I told them I was short about £20,000 so there’s been a break-in or the machine they gave me, which I’d had problems with and had complained about already, was the issue. They said there was no fault with Horizon, and I was the only one who had made a complaint.”

But that was a lie, and we know now that many innocent people went to prison. Others, like Alun, put money in to make up the shortfall.

“It took 18 years to get my money back and it’s taken a toll on my health,” he said.

“I’ve had a heart attack but others have committed suicide, divorced, had children placed in care... I want justice for them so I fight on.

“The Post Office and Fujitsu knew there was an issue. I wrote to them, but I’ve never had a reply.

“I’ve donated some of my compensation to the charity, Lost Chances, set up by three women, the daughters of sub postmasters who have been ruined by what’s gone on.

“Their education and health suffered, and their own children are under great strain still.

“My mental health suffered. My stress levels were through the roof.

“My daughter, Lizzie, died knowing I was going through hell, not knowing I would come out the other side. I was exonerated.

“I had to borrow money, I had credit cards, I remortgaged the house. My late father-in-law went to the bank and gave me money to get rid of the b!*!*!*s.

“Living under that cloud had a terrible effect on me and my family and there are people out there who suffered even more.

“I’m not vindictive but Fujitsu have ruined people. I hope they get what they deserve.

“I’ve been a councillor and fought many people’s causes over the years. I’ve still got contacts so I can use that fight and those contacts to keep going.

“If the Post Office and Fujitsu had carried out due diligence on the Horizon system at the time, hundreds of families would have been spared so much pain and suffering, and that’s what I will never forgive.

“Evelyn my wife has stood by me through thick and thin and has put up with an awful lot. I’d like to offer others the same support.”

If you would like Alun’s help to fight for justice and compensation, email [email protected].

To feature in First Person, email [email protected].