‘I took blame for Post Office shortfall to protect my mum’ – BBC News

A man who says he falsely confessed to stealing money from his mother’s Post Office to protect her from going to prison is waiting to find out whether his conviction will be quashed.

Ravinder Naga pleaded guilty to stealing £35,000 after auditors discovered a shortfall at Belville Street Post Office in Greenock.

But Mr Naga doesn’t know if it will cover him because he wasn’t the sub-postmaster.

In 2009 auditors turned up at the Post Office in the Inverclyde town, where his mother was the sub-postmistress, and uncovered an alleged shortfall of more than £33,000.

Mr Naga, from Port Glasgow, said he told her to tell Post Office investigators that he had stolen the money to “buy some time”.

But the missing money never appeared and the father-of-two ended up pleading guilty to theft. He was sentenced to 300 hours’ community service.

Mr Naga said he confessed to a crime he didn’t commit because his mother would not have survived prison.

He added: “If someone had to be sacrificed then better me than my mum.

“The family could have coped if maybe I wasn’t there but if my mum had been taken and something had happened to my mum then there would have been no recovery from that.”

Mr Naga said his health deteriorated during his community service and he struggled to get work.

And he told BBC Scotland News the theft he confessed to amounted to “robbing your own mother”.

Mr Naga described how his parents had built a business portfolio – including the Post Office – from scratch when they came to Scotland.

He added the only good thing to come from his confession was that his mother’s reputation was never tarnished because he took the hit.

Mr Naga’s father died before the alleged shortfall was discovered.

He explained if Mr Naga’s mother had been convicted there would be no doubt that she would be exonerated but his client’s situation was less certain as he wasn’t the sub-postmaster.

But Mr Cunningham said Mr Naga’s business connections to the Post Office – where he helped his mother on a regular basis – meant he may be included in the bill.