The ITV1 drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office has caused a flurry of activity around the Horizon IT system scandal – not least a new police investigation and a viral online petition. However, the Communications Workers Union (CWU) has perhaps summed up the situation the best. It has issued an angry statement calling for the ex-Post Office boss – now a CBE – to have her honour stripped.
Mr Bates vs the Post Office: a real-life drama
Mr Bates vs the Post Office has brought the ongoing scandal over the Horizon IT system, and Post Office and politicians conduct at the time, back into the public eye. More than 700 people running small local post offices received criminal convictions between 1999 and 2005 after faulty accounting software made it appear that money had gone missing from their branches.
The scandal has been described at an ongoing public inquiry as “the worst miscarriage of justice in recent British legal history”. The Horizon IT system had been developed by the Japanese technology giant Fujitsu. The Post Office began installing the software in the late 90s, but flaws in its programming showed up deficits in branch accounts.
Postal service executives, refusing to acknowledge problems with the software, forced workers to repay the shortfalls. Some were imprisoned or left out of pocket, while others failed to find other jobs and lost their homes.
However, in December 2019 a High Court judge concluded that the system contained a number of “bugs, errors, and defects”. 86 postmasters have so far seen their convictions overturned and £21m has been paid in compensation.
The UK government announced in September 2023 that every postmaster convicted would receive a payout of hundreds of thousands of pounds.
A new angle to the Met investigation – and more potential victims
Now, the Met Police said late on Friday 5 January that officers are “investigating potential fraud offences arising out of these prosecutions”. The probe also includes money recovered from sub-postmasters as a result of civil actions, the force added in a statement.
The Met had already been investigating potential crimes of perjury and perverting the course of justice relating to investigations and prosecutions carried out by the Post Office. Two people have been interviewed under caution but nobody has been arrested since the investigation opened in January 2020.
Plus, as the Guardian reported, since ITV broadcast Mr Bates vs the Post Office:
50 new potential victims have contacted lawyers, including five who wish to appeal against their convictions.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission, which refers cases to the court of appeal, has since urged more potential victims to come forward. In a statement issued on Friday, it said it “might be able to help if your appeal was unsuccessful, or if you pleaded guilty in a magistrates court, or if you are a close relative of a former sub-postmaster who has died”.
Meanwhile, an online petition over the scandal has gone viral.
A viral petition
Christopher Head started the Change petition Post Office Scandal Compensation & Accountability in January 2020 – will little attention. However, since Mr Bates vs the Post Office aired, it has gone from a few thousand signatures to nearly a quarter of a million as of 12pm on Saturday 6 January. Head was a victim of the Post Office and its Horizon IT system. As he says in the petition:
There are over 550 claimants who completed costly litigation, 2500 who have now joined the Historical Shortfall scheme and potentially 900+ wrongful convictions taking this scandal to well over 3500 people. Lives were destroyed, businesses lost, homes repossessed, bankruptcies, false imprisonment, families destroyed, health issues and suicides, all down to a total cover up of the truth.
Head wants “full and fair” government compensation for all victims. But crucially, he also wants accountability. What is missing from much of the discourse is what has happened to the boss of the Post Office at the time when the scandal first started coming to light.
Paula Vennells CBE was CEO of the company from 2012 to 2019. However, as Sky News reported:
Vennells oversaw the organisation while it routinely denied there were problems with its Horizon IT system.
Crucially, as Head wrote:
Vennells, who decided to resign days before the first substantial judgement was released by the High Court, has since been awarded a CBE, a position in the cabinet office of government and also chairs one of the largest NHS Groups (Imperial NHS).
This level of cronyism and corruption in government and public bodies is routine – but still shocking. So, you can sign Head’s petition here.
Mr Bates vs the Post Office: drama for social good
Overall, Mr Bates vs the Post Office has brought the scandal back to the fore. As CWU national officer Andy Furey said in a statement:
Mr Bates vs the Post Office has been a tremendously moving depiction of such a harrowing story that has rightly been described as the greatest miscarriage of justice ever seen in the UK.
Alan Bates and the Justice For Sub-Postmaster Alliance (JFSA) must be lauded for their tireless efforts to expose the disgraceful actions of the Post Office.
The emotional response from across the country has been a vindication for Alan Bates and those who fought a crusade to overturn the Post Office establishment, who closed ranks to defend the Horizon system – even though this meant Postmasters being imprisoned for crimes they didn’t commit.
It has also been vindicating for CWU members in the Post Office, who have supported the efforts of the JFSA in fighting this injustice for well over a decade.
Sadly, this fight was necessary as hundreds of Postmasters were let down and abandoned by the National Federation of SubPostmasters, who failed them every step of the way due to their blind and unquestionable support for the Post Office Board.
The CWU fully reiterates our demand that the government strips former Chief Executive Officer Paula Vennells of her CBE – this honour for Post Office services is an insult to every postmaster who were treated so abhorrently under her leadership.
Additional reporting via Agence France-Presse
Featured image via ITV Press Department
