A former post office operator who led a campaign to fight against wrongful convictions brought by the Post Office has called for compensation for the victims to be sped up after the broadcast of an ITV drama about the scandal.
The Metropolitan police confirmed on Friday the Post Office was under criminal investigation over “potential fraud offences” committed during the Horizon scandal.
Fifty new potential victims have contacted lawyers since the ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office was broadcast, including five who wish to appeal against their convictions.
Neil Hudgell, a lawyer who has already helped 73 former operators with convictions related to the scandal, said the numbers were increasing all the time.
He said the number of people who have come forward was now in excess of 60. He also said there had been a significant increase in the number of children coming forward on behalf of deceased parents.
As of Saturday evening, a petition to strip former Post Office boss Paula Vennells of her CBE had surpassed its original target of 800,000 signatures and had been upped to a goal of 900,000. Vennells was the chief executive for much of the period during which the postmasters were wrongly pursued.
Alan Bates told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Saturday that the four-part drama had helped reignite the issue, and that he hoped this could speed up the compensation process for victims.
“I think it’s made a huge difference to the campaign,” he said. “It’s really ignited the whole issue again, and hopefully we can try and bring some conclusion to some of the issues that are still outstanding now.”
The show documents the miscarriage of justice in which more than 700 post office branch managers wrongly received criminal convictions, including for theft, false accounting and fraud, after faulty Horizon accounting software made it appear as though money was missing from their outlets.
It has been described as the most widespread miscarriage of justice in UK history and a public inquiry into it is under way.
Asked why victims might not have come forward before the drama, Bates said: “I think there may well be people who just did not know what had been going on over the years of campaigning.
“But I also think some people will take support from the fact of so many of the victims standing up and being identified, and I think that’s probably helped people give them the confidence to come forward.”
Hudgell said it had been a “privilege to look after so many decent, hard-working and honest people, who are the heartbeat of this country. It’s why we are lawyers, helping make a difference. But they are the true heroes of all this.”
Under the terms of their contracts, operators such as Bates, who ran a post office in the seaside town of Llandudno, north Wales, were liable for the financial losses and the Post Office demanded they repay the money or face closure, prosecution or a civil claim.
Hundreds were jailed or left bankrupt, lost their homes, and at least four people killed themselves. Bates claimed at least 60 people had died waiting for compensation.
Lee Castleton, a formerpost office operator from Bridlington, East Yorkshire, said his family’s lives were “torn apart” by the ordeal. Castleton was pursued by the Post Office for the repayment of £25,000 in alleged discrepancies arising from the faulty Horizon software, and his failed legal action to challenge the debt led to £300,000 costs and bankruptcy.
He told Times Radio: “We were ostracised in Bridlington. We were abused in the streets. Our daughter was bullied. She was on the school bus and spat on by a young boy because [they thought] her father was a thief, and he’d take money from old people.”
Hudgell, the executive chair of Hudgell Solicitors, told the PA Media news agency his clients welcomed the news of the Met investigation. “The drama has elevated public awareness to a whole new level. The British public and their overwhelming sympathy for the plight of these poor people has given some the strength to finally come forward.
“Those numbers increase by the day, but there are so many more out there. We had 50 up to yesterday and approaching another 20 today.”
Bates said it had been “an excellent vehicle to get the message out there”.
“I think the big hold-up now is for what they call the compensation, or the financial redress … What they need to do is speed the bureaucracy up, which is holding up the payments to all of these people. They really must light a fire under their officials to get this sorted.”
The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, told BBC Breakfast the government would do “everything they can” to speed up compensation for operators who were still waiting.
“We want to do this as fast as possible,” he said. “So we hear that message loud and clear, we will look into doing everything we can to speed up the payment of compensation.”
PA Media contributed to this report
