Post Office scandal victim upset by £60k bill for legal fees
A former Surrey sub-postmistress who was wrongly jailed while pregnant during the Post Office's Horizon IT scandal says she has been caused "great upset" by a demand of £60,000 for legal fees.Seema Misra, who ran a post office in West Byfleet, was one of more than 900 sub-postmasters convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting based on faulty computer data between 1999 and 2015.Solicitor Nick Gould worked on a pro bono basis to get her conviction overturned in 2021, and Ms Misra then agreed to pay for any further legal work. But she said she has received "no details" as to exactly what work he had done since.Mr Gould has not responded to BBC Surrey's request for a response.
Ms Misra was jailed for 15 months in 2010 after being accused of stealing £74,000 from her Post Office branch.She was sent to Bronzefield prison on the day of her eldest son's 10th birthday, and gave birth to her youngest child while still in prison.In April she was one of four leading campaigners to receive an OBE for their service to justice.Since her conviction was quashed, Ms Misra has received an undisclosed amount of interim compensation, but has not yet received the final settlement.The BBC understands that Ms Misra signed a retainer in 2021, after her conviction was quashed, for the provision of "commercial legal services" provided by Mr Gould moving forward.It was agreed Mr Gould would charge for his time at a fixed hourly rate. However, emails seen by the BBC show Mr Gould has since claimed that this agreement was changed to one where Ms Misra would pay the lesser of £60,000 or 5% of any compensation she received from the Post Office. Despite Ms Misra paying Mr Gould more than £20,000, she disputes this later agreement and says she has been given no details of what time Mr Gould in fact spent working on her case.At the time, Mr Gould was working for Aria Grace Law, who said he was removed from professional duties at the firm in January, "following serious concerns regarding his conduct".A spokesperson for Aria Grace said: "Mr Gould does not and must not be taken to speak for Aria Grace."
Why were hundreds of Post Office workers wrongly prosecuted?'The Post Office has ruined every happy moment of my life since 2005'
They said the firm stood with the victims of the Post Office scandal, and honoured their resilience."We condemn any conduct that seeks to exploit their trust or harm their recovery," they added.Ms Misra said she would "always be grateful" for the support Mr Gould gave her.But on being asked to pay £60,000 for legal services provided by Mr Gould since her conviction was overturned, she said: "I felt uneasy but I trusted Nick that this must be correct if he, a solicitor, was telling me so."Despite paying in excess of £20,000, in May she received a legal letter on behalf of Mr Gould's current legal firm, Impact Lawyers, saying she would be sued if she did not pay what they said was outstanding.Nick Wallis, a former BBC journalist who continues to cover the Post Office's Horizon IT scandal, told BBC Radio Surrey that Ms Misra had contacted him "in some distress"."All Seema wanted to know was what work he had done to justify the bill," he added.
Ms Misra said she wanted to avoid conflict with Mr Gould "after all his pro bono support for us and because my family and I have already been through quite enough".She added: "I asked for details of exactly what work he had done since my conviction was set aside to justify this, but have received no details."Last month I received a letter from lawyers representing Nick Gould's current legal firm, Impact Lawyers, telling me I would be sued if I did not pay what they said was outstanding."She said she would defend the case if his firm sued her."I don't think Nick has acted as a solicitor should and the whole thing has caused me and my family great upset," she added."I hope Nick Gould and Impact... will now do the right thing and drop the matter so that we don't have to carry on worrying about it and spending further time on it."A spokesperson for Impact Lawyers told the BBC they were unable to comment.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
22 minutes ago
- The Independent
Emma Raducanu speaks out after stalker tried to buy Wimbledon tickets
Emma Raducanu has praised Wimbledon after her stalker was blocked from buying tickets to this year's event. The man, who was previously given a restraining order by Dubai police after stalking the British former US Open Champion at four successive tennis tournaments in Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Doha and Dubai, had his name red-flagged on the All England Club's security system. He was blocked from entering the public ballot. "I got a notification, the police contacted me and told me and assured everything was good," Raducanu told BBC Sport.
BBC News
27 minutes ago
- BBC News
Man arrested on suspicion of murder after death in Newark bailed
A 19-year-old man arrested on suspicion of murder after the death of a man in Newark has been Police believed the man was "critically hurt" in a fight on 16 June before he pulled over in a vehicle about an hour services were called to reports of a motorist in distress in Lombard Street just before 17:00 Monday, police said the arrested man had been bailed under strict conditions. Detectives say they are currently working on the theory that the man was hurt in the fight near Albert Street, between 16:00 and 16: services were called to treat the already injured driver shortly Ch Insp Ruby Burrow said: "This dispute may have also spilled over to nearby Windsor Road or Boundary Road, and would've been quite visible due to the lighting at that time of the day and the location near Newark town centre."Bearing this in mind, my ask would be for everyone who was in that area, at that time, to think whether they might have seen something."Even better, did you perhaps record something, inadvertently or otherwise, on a phone or on one of your cameras that may have captured what happened?"Any piece of information you have could help us confirm what happened and solve this case for this man's grieving family."
BBC News
27 minutes ago
- BBC News
'Fake Cheshire millionaire' ran 'Hermes bag con', jurors told
A self-described millionaire conned six people - including his own father - out of thousands of pounds by promising to buy and sell luxury designer Hermes handbags, a court has Watkin, 26, is accused at Chester Crown Court of using their loans to fund his own "lavish lifestyle". Prosecutor Matthew Kerruish-Jones told jurors: "The defendant put forward the outward façade of a glamorous and luxurious lifestyle. This, it seems, engendered trust and led a number of individuals to loan him large sums of money on the promise of either a financial return, or luxury items."Mr Watkin, of Alderley Edge, Cheshire, denies seven counts of fraud and two counts of theft. The court heard that Hermes bags were only sold to a select group of registered were told that because of their exclusivity, Hermes bags often attracted a re-sale value far in excess of their original Kerruish-Jones said Mr Watkin avoided his alleged victims and made "excuses" when they asked about their money. Among the alleged victims was the defendant's father, Jason Watkin, who loaned his son more than £29,000 in 2019. The court heard that while Mr Watkin Sr was not repaid, he could see from social media posts that his son was "spending lavishly on his lifestyle". Mr Kerruish-Jones said: "For the next year or so, Mr Watkin repeatedly asked for his money back. "He was increasingly concerned that his money had not been used to purchase a bag but had, in fact, gone to the defendant funding his lifestyle."Jurors were also told the defendant had approached businesswoman Christine Colbert in resold designer bags and clothing through her shop in Prestbury called Dress Watkin allegedly told her his name was Jack prosecution said Ms Colbert loaned him a total of £91,000 between July 2021 and November this, the court heard he only repaid £47, Watkin is also alleged to have stolen a blue Hermes bag valued at £21,000 and a Goyard bag worth £8,000 from Ms Colbert. 'Legitimate transactions' The court also heard that Hannah Jakes had been friends with Mr Watkin for more than 10 the £321,800 she is said to have lent him, she was allegedly only repaid £88, Kerruish-Jones said Ms Jakes got in touch with Ms Colbert in 2024 after seeing an Instagram prosecution claimed it became clear that Mr Watkin had defrauded them in a similar their discussions, Ms Jakes arranged to meet the defendant and Ms Colbert called the police, leading to his jury was told another complainant, Andor Farkas, worked as a barman in Harrods where Mr Watkin was a regular Watkin allegedly borrowed £14,000 from Mr Farkar, who said he trusted Mr Watkin due to his assurances that he was a court heard Naheem Akhtar, who gave £840 to Mr Watkin for a pair of Lora Piana shoes which he allegedly never received, said the defendant gave the perception on social media that he was a millionaire involved in the fashion is further claimed that James Irlam, who allegedly lost £65,500, was told by Mr Watkin he had a personal relationship with the director of Hermes and was able to source trial continues. Read more stories from Cheshire on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC North West on X. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
