In the last in our series, Noel talks about the effect of a Post Office prosecution on himself and the effect on other subpostmasters. 

Since the year 2000, the Post Office has charged over 700 people for fraud or counterfeit fraud. 555 former subpostmasters belonged to the Justice for Postmasters Group and Noel Thomas was one of them.  

The victims have been sharing their personal experiences and Mr Thomas has becone good friends with many. 

One of those Mr Thomas befriended was Seema Misra, a sub-postmistress from Surrey who was pregnant when she was prosecuted by the Post Office and sent to prison for £75,000. She was innocent. 

"I've met Seema and her husband and their friends but I’ve lost a good friend too,” said Mr Thomas. “Julian Wilson died in 2006 and his wife Karen was with us in London when he was cleared in the Court of Appeal.” 

Mr Thomas says that he had been wrongly charged and imprisoned and that having been released, life wasn’t easy. 

“In the beginning, it was a problem for me. The way I overcame it, was to walk. I'd walk Malltraeth and Llanddwyn seafront for hours.

"Having been locked in a cell, I’d only see a closed door,” said Mr Thomas who went on to have a job at Pentre Berw Garden Centre for a short while. 

Lee Castleton had a similar experience to Mr Thomas. The Yorkshire man had repeatedly phoned the Post Office to say about the problem with Horizon's computer system. 

"Lee is not part of the Justice for Postmasters Group. He fought his own case in the Court of Appeal. Horizon came in with all the big guns and Lee lost his case. He received a fine from the Post of nearly £400,000. It’s a burden around his neck all the time.” 

And the findings continue to appear. 

Mr Thomas said: "A woman had lost money and the Post Office took her business and two houses! She believes that they have taken away £1 million of her property. " 

Since being forced to give up his job as Gaerwen postmaster in 2005 and being imprisoned in 2006, Noel has received only £100,000 in funding. Half of the money has gone into paying off debt.  

This series first appeared on our sister site, Corgi Cymru.