Sir Alan Bates says he hopes ‘real baddies’ are held to account
Campaigner Sir Alan Bates said he wanted the “real bad guys” involved in the Post Office scandal to be brought to justice.
He said “many of us know who the culprits are” in the Horizon IT scandal, which saw more than 900 deputy postmasters prosecuted over funding shortfalls caused by flaws in the accounting system.
Sir Alan was speaking as he heard the final comments from a long-running inquiry into one of the most widespread miscarriages of justice in the UK.
Lawyers for the acting deputy postmaster general told the inquest on Monday that the Post Office’s “cruel” and “vicious culture” had “destroyed innocent people”.
Sir Alan told the BBC’s World Together program that he hoped public scrutiny would ensure justice was served.
Between 1999 and 2015, a flaw in Fujitsu’s Horizon IT accounting system caused funds to appear to be missing and hundreds of people were wrongfully prosecuted.
Many have lost their livelihoods or been forced to make up shortfalls, while others report feeling ostracized from their communities. Some former deputy postmasters committed suicide.
Edward Henry KC, representing the victims, said on Monday: “The fact is that this tragedy had nothing to do with the IT system. Horizon did not destroy innocent people, it was the result of a vicious culture at the Post Office.”
“People were devastated, people were bankrupted, people were imprisoned, people suffered brutal miscarriages of justice, people died,” he said.
His statement marked the beginning of an investigation set up in September 2020 to investigate the Post Office scandal.
It heard from 298 witnesses, received 780 witness statements and processed more than 2.2 million pages of disclosures.
Witnesses include former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells, who has been widely criticized for her handling of the matter.
Mr Henry concluded the inquiry: “The world’s greatest horrors, the cruelty of man to man, are caused not by monsters, malfunctions or mishaps, but by those who claim to act in the name of kindness.”
Earlier this year, ITV’s drama Mr Bates vs. the Post Office captured the public’s imagination and won a number of awards by focusing on the human story behind the scandal.
Sir Allen said “the country will hold a significant number of people to account and they want to see real justice”.
He also said he hoped inquiry chairman Sir Wyn Williams would “name names in this inquiry”.
Sir Wynne’s final report into the scandal is due to be released next year, but Sir Alan said he feared it might be “shelved” and nothing would happen after that.
As Sir Wen considered all the information, one of the lawyers representing the victims, Sam Stein KC, asked for continued involvement in the investigation and, in particular, for the Post Office and Department of Commerce to be held accountable for compensation payments.
While the investigation is drawing to a close, 25 years after the scandal, many former Post Office branch managers are still waiting for the compensation they deserve to be finalized.
Sir Alan said his latest claim for compensation amounted to just a third of his original claim, which he had rejected. He said the first compensation request was for one-sixth of his initial claim.
He said his claim has now been referred to Sir Ross Cranston, a former High Court judge and independent reviewer of the GLO post office scheme.
He said many deputy postmasters wanted to “put this behind them” but they would continue to “stay the course”.
Horizon’s launch, rollout and subsequent issues covered Conservative and Labor governments and the Conservative and Lib Dem coalition.
Tim Moloney KC said in his summary on Monday that “successive governments have created a crisis and business hunger that has caused the Post Office as an institution and the individuals within it to lose sight of the true value of the network and the individuals within it”.
Sir Keir Starmer has responded to letter sent by former deputy postmaster general Sir Alan Bates, the 10th spokesman, said the government was committed to providing victims with a speedy remedy.
However, they said they were wary of setting an “arbitrary deadline” date as it could miss out on some claimants.
Neil Sheldon KC of UKGI, the government agency that owns the Post Office, said it “should provide a stronger challenge if we showed more curiosity about the legitimate concerns raised by the deputy postmaster general. … .might be given more weight.”
“For this… we apologize unreservedly.”
He acknowledged that government officials may not understand what authority they have to hold the post office accountable. These include sacking the chairman or inviting the chairman and chief executive to discuss the group’s direction.
However, he also defended UKGI, saying there was no evidence that any employee had “deliberately harmed the postmaster general, concealed the truth or engaged in any form of cover-up”.
