Post Office scandal: UK’s youngest postmaster at 18 lost everything

WHEN Christopher Head became the youngest sub-postmaster in Britain at the tender age of 18 he thought he had a job for life. His appointment made him a poster boy to attract younger people to the job and he was regularly praised for helping locals in his home village of West Boldon, near Sunderland. But nine years later, Christopher found himself suspended and at the centre of a criminal investigation after the faulty Horizon computer system showed his Post Office had a shortfall of £88,000. A threat of being prosecuted was dropped six months later but the PO spent five years pursuing him through the civil courts to get the cash back and Christopher lost everything, including his adjoining shop. He is one of hundreds of postmasters who had criminal cases against them shelved but suffered financial hardship after being suspended or sacked. Christopher, now 36, was forced to go abroad for work and is now employed in an Amazon warehouse. He and other postmasters