BACKGROUND: "Between 1999 and 2015 the Post Office relentlessly pursued operators of sub-post offices across the UK for alleged theft, fraud and false accounting based on information from its Horizon IT system installed in the late 1990s. That was despite knowing that from at least 2010 onwards that there were faults in the centralised accounting software. In total, about 3,500 branch owner-operators were wrongly accused of taking money from their businesses, with more than 700 prosecuted by the Post Office despite protesting their innocence and raising issues with the software in their defence. The scandal is frequently described as the most widespread miscarriage of justice in UK history. Hundreds of sub-post office operators ended up with criminal records and punishments ranging from having to do community service and wear electronic tags to being jailed. Many were left struggling financially or even bankrupt following convictions. Even those who did not go to court had to drum up money to cover nonexistent shortfalls. Victims and their families were severely hit by stress, and in many cases illness, with the scandal linked to at least four suicides. For years the Post Office, which has the power to investigate and prosecute without the need for police involvement, continued to defend itself against accusations and press reports highlighting problems with the IT system, developed by Japan’s Fujitsu, including through legal means. In 2019, a group of post office operators won a high court case in which their convictions were ruled wrongful and the Horizon IT system was ruled to be at fault. In 2021, the ruling was upheld on appeal, quashing the convictions of some workers who were wrongly accused of committing crimes, paving the way for compensation. However, even since the computer system was found to be defective, the Post Office has still opposed a number of appeals by operators."
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Bates had lost his branch and life savings by then and was forced to take a tent to enable him to protest at the Torquay event. “He had to camp because he couldn’t afford to stay anywhere,” Sercombe said, adding that Bates was also labelled “a thief” at the event. Things have changed dramatically since then. Although there had already been a High Court group litigation, which Bates and his subpostmaster campaign group won, and around 100 wrongful subpostmaster convictions overturned, a TV dramatisation released two years into a statutory public inquiry meant one of the biggest scandals in history was finally recognised as such, as was Bates’ central role in bringing justice. Bates formed the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA) in September 2009, a few months after Computer Weekly revealed the widespread problems being experienced with the Horizon system across the country.
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Perhaps the greatest achievement in a long list for Bates was successfully suing the Post Office alongside more than 500 other subpostmasters and former subpostmasters, who formed the JFSA. It was the judgment in GLO in 2019 that proved the JFSA were right that errors in the Horizon system used in branches, was responsible for the unexplained account shortfall they were blamed for. From that moment on, it was clear that people had been wrongfully prosecuted for financial crimes, thus beginning the process of overturning wrongful convictions, which led into the ongoing statutory public inquiry into the scandal. Despite everything, Bates has continued to push for justice and fair financial redress for subpostmasters affected by the scandal."
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STORY; 'Once ridiculed Post Office scandal campaigner Alan Bates receives knighthood Campaigner for justice, once labelled a ‘nutter’ and a ‘thief’, knighted for his work to expose the Post Office scandal, by Reporter Karl Flinders, published by Computer Weekly, on June 7, 2024. (Computer Weekly has published about 350 stories since 2009 about Horizon, mostly by Karl Flinders. Seventy of these came before the end of 2018 and the rest followed afterwards as the Justice For Subpostmasters Alliance brought a group action trial against the Post Office in 2018 and a public inquiry commenced in 2020, boosting interest and awareness in what happened.)
https://pressgazette.co.uk/news/post-office-horizon-it-scandal-journalists/
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GIST: Alan Bates, who was described as a “nutter” and a “thief” by members of the federation representing subpostmasters when he campaigned about problems
with the Post Office’s Horizon IT system, has been honoured for that very cause.
Bates was previously forced to sleep in a tent at a National Federation of Subpostmasters (NFSP) event because he couldn’t afford to stay anywhere when he was protesting after losing his livelihood.
Now, he’s receiving a knighthood.
The Post Office Horizon scandal is headline news across the world, but it has not always been so.
Nearly a quarter a century of campaigning by Bates exposed a scandal that led to the financial ruin, wrongful imprisonment, and even suicides in the UK’s subpostmaster community.
None of this may ever have been known beyond a small group of subpostmasters
and their supporters had it not been for Bates.
His knighthood comes 18 months after he rejected an offer of an OBE. At the time, he told Computer Weekly it would be inappropriate to accept the offer because former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells held her CBE, bringing the “whole honours system into disrepute”.
The fall-out of ITV’s dramatisation of the Post Office scandal has, among much more, seen Vennells stripped of her CBE.
Bates and partner Suzanne Sercombe, who have both campaigned for almost a quarter of a century, become Sir Alan and Lady Suzanne – you can read more about their story here.
Bates told Computer Weekly that he hopes the knighthood will add another string to his bow to help the ongoing campaign for financial redress for the subpostmasters that fell victim to the Horizon scandal.
“Anything to keep up the pressure on them – it all helps,” he said. “We have to get the money for the group, that’s all that is really left now, and everything else is in
progress. There is far more to come, but this is down to others now to carry on. I just want to make sure the JFSA group get their money.”
The nation now knows the details of their fight for justice, which is widely admired.
But winning support was not always easy, with Bates even ridiculed by the people who should have put his concerns over Horizon at the top of their priority list.
In 2004, Bates attended a meeting of the National Federation of Subpostmasters (NFSP) where he handed out fliers in the conference hall.
Those attending the conference were told to ignore Bates’ protest, according to former subpostmaster Mark Baker, who was an NFSP representative at the time.
“The NFSP ushers were frantically removing the leaflets Alan had placed on the delegates’ seats . It was one of those ushers who said, ‘Ignore him, he’s a nutter
who can’t get over losing his Post Office branch’.”
Bates had lost his branch and life savings by then and was forced to take a tent to enable him to protest at the Torquay event. “He had to camp because he couldn’t afford to stay anywhere,” Sercombe said, adding that Bates was also labelled “a thief” at the event.
Things have changed dramatically since then. Although there had already been a High Court group litigation, which Bates and his subpostmaster campaign group won, and around 100 wrongful subpostmaster convictions overturned, a TV dramatisation released two years into a statutory public inquiry meant one of the biggest scandals in history was finally recognised as such, as was Bates’ central role in bringing justice.
Bates formed the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA) in September 2009, a few months after Computer Weekly revealed the widespread problems being experienced with the Horizon system across the country.
Perhaps the greatest achievement in a long list for Bates was successfully suing the Post Office alongside more than 500 other subpostmasters and former subpostmasters, who formed the JFSA.
It was the judgment in GLO in 2019 that proved the JFSA were right that errors in the Horizon system used in branches, was responsible for the unexplained account shortfall they were blamed for.
From that moment on, it was clear that people had been wrongfully prosecuted for financial crimes, thus beginning the process of overturning wrongful convictions, which led into the ongoing statutory public inquiry into the scandal.
Despite everything, Bates has continued to push for justice and fair financial redress for subpostmasters affected by the scandal."
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
---------------------------------------------------------------
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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