A former sub-postmaster from Belfast wrongly caught up in the Horizon IT scandal is to receive the maximum available £600,000 compensation, it has been revealed.
Lawyers for the man, who has not been identified, declared the payout as complete vindication in a 15-year battle to clear his name.
He is believed to be among first to secure the full award available under a scheme set up to deal with one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history.
More than 900 postmasters across the UK were wrongly prosecuted for stealing because defective Horizon software made it look like money had gone missing from their branches.
Fraud charges were brought against the man in connection with a business he ran until the early 2000s.
He initially pleaded guilty on legal advice to seven counts of false accounting.
The man received a suspended prison sentence and was ordered to pay back £1,500 allegedly stolen from the Post Office.
But after flaws in the computer system were exposed his convictions were quashed in September last year.
He sought compensation under the Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme and in December obtained an interim payment of £200,000 for the wrongful convictions.
Belfast firm KRW Law, who represent the man, announced that he has now been awarded the maximum £600,000.
Solicitor Victoria Trainor said it has provided a massive sense of relief to her client.
“For 15 years he had to live with the shame and indignity of having a conviction for crimes he never committed,” she said.
“It is total vindication for him and helps remove the big stain against his name.”
Ms Trainor added: “Like so many of the other victims it has been utterly depressing for him to live with this kind of stigma.
“We don’t know for certain, but believe this might actually be the first confirmation of a payment of the full amount of compensation available under the scheme.
“Whilst no amount of money will ever compensate him for the ordeal he went through, the payout is certainly life enhancing and allows him to move on with his life.”