Court fight over Post Office Horizon payout pits son against uncle

A High Court dispute has emerged over how a £578,000 compensation payout awarded to Dawn O’Connell should be distributed, as her son and her brother clash over the estate following her death and her wrongful conviction connected to the Post Office Horizon scandal.

Dawn O’Connell, 57, died in September 2020, seven months before the Appeal Court overturned her Harrow Crown Court conviction on five counts of false accounting. She had worked as a branch manager in Northolt, northwest London, from 2000 to 2008, and her sentence was later recognized as wrongful after the broader Horizon affair came to light. The Post Office subsequently paid the compensation posthumously, but the handling of the payout has now become a legal battlefield within the family.

The dispute centers on Dawn O’Connell’s estate, which is valued at around £600,000, with the bulk comprising the compensation payout. Her son, Matthew O’Connell, 38, is expected to inherit the estate, while Dawn’s brother, Mark O’Connell, 61, contends that he should receive about £330,000 and argues that Dawn had agreed to share the payout with him because of the help he provided in pursuing the claim.

Mark O’Connell’s barrister, Erol Topal, told the High Court that Mark assisted Dawn financially and practically to pursue damages arising from the Horizon scandal and that she had agreed, if successful, to split any damages with him and to repay other sums he had advanced. “If nothing was recovered, it was agreed that Dawn would owe him nothing — including pre-existing debts,” Topal said. He argued that but for Dawn’s death, she would have honored the agreement and that barring his claim would unjustly enrich the estate.

But the case faces a procedural hurdle: the court must decide whether Mark’s claim can proceed after his lawyers missed a May 16 deadline for filing vital papers. Greg Leckey, counsel for Matthew O’Connell, argued that missing a fixed deadline breached a court order and could prevent Mark’s claim from moving forward. He said there was no compelling reason to excuse the delay. Mark O’Connell’s own barrister contended that the breach occurred despite diligent efforts, including in-person court visits, and that preventing the claim would be a drastic outcome for a mistake not of Mark’s making.

The judge, Deputy Master Joanna Lampert, reserved ruling on whether Mark’s claim can proceed, leaving the timing of a decision to a later date. In the courtroom, supporters highlighted the family’s long ordeal since Dawn’s arrest and trial—the event described by her nephew and others as a turning point in her life. Dawn’s son and Dawn’s family have spoken of the stigma and traumatic impact of the Horizon prosecutions, which affected hundreds of Post Office workers who were accused of theft or false accounting due to alleged shortfalls in the Horizon system. The scandal’s reach and consequences have been the subject of public scrutiny and dramatic retellings, including the 2024 ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which drew high viewership for its portrayal of the toll on the people involved.

Speaking outside the courtroom, Mark O’Connell described the impact of his sister’s wrongful conviction as a devastating period that ultimately contributed to her decline. He recalled that Dawn had been a responsible and respected member of her community, and he said the arrest marked a turning point in her life. He also noted that he had supported her through the years after the conviction and helped push forward the compensation claim, aiming for a fair settlement that would reflect her years of service and the difficulties she faced after the prosecution.

The Horizon scandal has been credited with triggering a broader re-examination of the Post Office’s accounting system and the treatment of workers who were prosecuted based on its results. While some have welcomed Dawn O’Connell’s eventual exoneration at the appellate level, her family’s ongoing legal wrangling highlights the enduring personal consequences of the crisis. The court will issue a ruling on whether Mark O’Connell’s claim can proceed, and if allowed, how the estate should be allocated between him and Matthew O’Connell. Until then, the legal process continues to untangle a complex mix of family agreements, debt repayments, and compensation entitlements rooted in a controversy that has long since ceased to be merely a corporate issue and has become a human story of loss, stigma, and contested justice.