The UK Post Office Horizon public inquiry resumes this week, almost four years after it was launched.
A TV series has transformed public and political interest in the industrial-scale miscarriage of justice suffered by the deputy postmaster general.
Since 2020, retired judge Sir Wyn Williams has been investigating the incident that led to the Post Office Prosecution of more than 900 deputy postmasters Since 2020, thefts, fraud and false accounting have been caused not by dishonesty but by bugs in the Horizon software they were asked to use.
The painstaking process was conducted in public from start to finish, with dozens of evidence sessions broadcast live on YouTube, with transcripts and hundreds of complete documents available online.
Only from Christmas Day and on ITV Mr. Bates and the Post Office, The report puts the long and complex scandal, which has gained traction in Westminster and the media, at the cost of the lives of those wrongly convicted.
The penultimate phase of the investigation will begin with a full day of evidence from the show’s eponymous hero, Alan Bates, the tireless deputy postmaster who led a campaign against the Post Office in 2017 class action lawsuit.
His evidence will pave the way for appearances by senior managers at the Post Office and Fujitsu, the developer of Horizon software, as well as politicians who made key decisions during more than a decade of glitches and alleged manipulation of the system.
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Leaked recording shows post office asking Fujitsu to change deputy postmaster’s account
Former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells will face a three-day inquiry in May, and former Royal Mail Group chief executive Adam Crozier will appear in court this weekend.
Politicians including Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey and Labour’s campaign director Pat McFadden will also take the chair to respond to their actions as post office ministers.
A key question for all of them is what they knew about the problems with the Horizon system and when.
In 2019, a class-action lawsuit led to the High Court ruling that the software contained “errors, errors and defects” that could be insufficient basis for a conviction at the Post Office.
Since the show aired on ITV, evidence has mounted that Post Office officials knew their system and therefore their prosecution was flawed.
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Post Office Scandal Explained
An investigation into a 2017 Deloitte report released last month found instances of branch balances being changed remotely, something the Post Office has long insisted it couldn’t do.
last week, Sky News reveals phone recordings An investigation in 2013 between independent investigators and post office executives discussed allegations that Fujitsu peers remotely tampered with branch accounts.
Ms. Vinnells and her former colleagues must also be held accountable for their role in instructing the Post Office to continue suing even after becoming aware of these deficiencies, and investing millions of dollars in legal fees to try to outlast those who fought back Deputy postmasters cost more money.
Under the supervision of Ms. Vinnell, the Post Office Class action lawsuit settled for £58mOf this, £47 million was spent on legal costs, with the 555 deputy postmasters (some of whom were wrongly jailed) sharing just £11 million, less than £20,000 each.
Sir Wyn Williams promised recommendations as soon as possible after the inquiry concludes in September, but the incident has prompted the government to address some of its biggest questions.
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‘We must raise money from victims’
legislation has been put on hold This would immediately exonerate all indicted sub-postmasters who met certain conditions, a move that has upset some in the justice sector and ministers acknowledged it could lead to exonerations.
The aim was to make all deputy postmasters eligible for compensation, which would require overturning the convictions, but even that process has been mired in controversy.
There are three separate schemes, all run by the Post Office.
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A parliamentary select committee heard evidence from victims’ lawyers in February that they were slow, overly bureaucratic and could now take up to two years to provide financial compensation.
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The same hearing also laid bare the chronic dysfunction within the current Post Office management, with chief executive Nick Read revealing he was under investigation over allegations of bullying of his former HR director and a smear campaign against the Post Office. former chairman henry staunton.
There’s enough material in this sorry, sordid corporate scandal to make a TV sequel.
Alan Bates and his ilk will be content with reparations and real-world recriminations for those responsible, including possible criminal prosecution.
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