Surrey Horizon campaigner to receive honour from Princess Royal
Seema Misra was wrongfully sent to prison while pregnant after she was accused of stealing £70k from her post office in West Byfleet
Subpostmaster campaigners Lee Castleton, Seema Misra and Chris Head will be made OBEs by the Princess Royal at an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle on Wednesday afternoon.
The former subpostmasters, who have campaigned for victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal to receive compensation, are among dozens of people being honoured, including former West Midlands mayor Sir Andy Street and actor Eddie Marsan.
Mr Castleton, Ms Misra and Mr Head were all made Officers of the British Empire in the King's New Years Honours list.
Speaking to the PA news agency at the time, Mr Castleton, from Bridlington, East Yorkshire, said the recognition proved that "sometimes you have to step forward and shout as loud as you can".
Mr Castleton went bankrupt in 2004 after being sued by the Post Office over claims that there was a £25,000 shortfall at his branch which he could not account for.
The ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office has since forced his case into the spotlight, and in March he took on Fujitsu and the Post Office in a High Court action alleging they had failed to disclose flaws in their software.
Ms Misra has been campaigning for Horizon scandal victims since having a conviction overturned in April 2021, in which she had been accused of stealing £70,000 from her post office in West Byfleet, Surrey and sent to jail despite being pregnant.
Mr Head was the youngest subpostmaster in the UK, aged just 18, when the Post Office pursued him through the courts for shortfalls of £80,000.
He has since set up petitions calling for compensation which have received more than 550,000 signatures.