plus: The Weeping Policeman

Hello, dear secret emailers

I am adopting the persona of an Editor-at-Large for this newsletter, as that’s what it seems my life has become. I am not comfortable with being a columnist – I would far rather be working on New Developments. That is coming, but, for the time being, if the cap fits…

The alarm went at 3.30am this morning, as I had to catch a cab to London to shadow the TalkTV breakfast show.

For some reason I have been asked to deputise for Jeremy Kyle for the next couple of weeks whilst he goes on paternity leave. His sixth child, no less.

I sat for three hours in the gallery (see pic below) watching the programme go out and marvelling at the professionalism involved. There are dozens of people and tens of thousands of pounds involved in making a live TV show (and its presenters) look and sound good. It’s all very intimidating. I have decided to wing it.

At the end of the programme I had to walk into the studio and give Jeremy a TalkTV baby-gro and a bottle of Pinot Noir. It was all very surreal. On the way out of the building, an MP whose name I can’t remember told me he’d seen a lot of his colleagues in Portcullis House reading my book. I am glad.

I missed the post-prog debrief because I wanted to get to the Royal Courts of Justice to see another conviction being quashed. This one had a personal connection. Last year, the force of nature that is Rosie Brocklehurst persuaded me to visit her home town of Hastings to speak at an event in the back room of a pub.

Rosie went out of her way to make sure the event was well attended and provided me with a special guest to talk to on stage. That special guest was Katy Crane, daughter of Kathleen Crane, a Subpostmaster who had been convicted of fraud in 2010 solely on the basis of Horizon evidence.

Katy is a nurse, a caring person and a wonderful speaker. She told the audience how her mum’s conviction had affected the whole family, and that Kathleen, a previously outgoing woman, had retreated into herself and was unwilling to come forward and seek an appeal.

After the event concluded I gave Katy the contact details for Flora Page, who represents several Subpostmasters at the public inquiry. Katy contacted Flora, things worked out and Kathleen was persuaded to appeal her conviction directly to the Court of Appeal.

On the day, it was touch and go as to whether Kathleen would make it to court. She has tried to bury what happened to her and was traumatised by the mere thought of bringing it all up again, but with the support of both Katy and her older sister Lucy (Kathleen’s husband Bob sadly died in 2016) she found the strength to attend today’s hearing and watch the judges conclude her conviction was an affront to the conscience of the court, predicated, as it was, on a complete failure to investigate the source of her discrepancies and a failure to disclose known faults about the Horizon software.

Kathleen left court completely exonerated. She should never have been prosecuted. Outside she told reporters about her life with a conviction, saying “You do feel ashamed. I won’t deny that… I think I’m in shock”.

I have never had the slightest hand in seeing an innocent person have their conviction quashed. I have only reported on what was happening as a paid member of the media.

In this case, I wasn’t reporting anything, I just went along to court as a member of the public to say hello to Katy and witness the hearing. In terms of my connection to the case, I did the absolute bare minimum – hand over a number and email address at an event in 2023 – yet I felt deeply affected by it all.

It made me realise what those who really have done the work – the lawyers, politicians, campaigners and their families – have actually achieved. And how they should feel.

This is not a normal, run-of-the-mill, everyday thing. This is the process of restoring the reputation and good name of innocent people who have wrongly and unfairly been tarnished in the eyes of the law. I now have the utmost respect for those in the legal profession who have done the work to get so many good peoples’ names restored: you really have achieved something monumental, and I hope history treats you well.

Kathleen Crane was the 97th person to have her conviction quashed. Rab Thomson was the 96th, earlier this week. Read his story here.

So that was this morning

On leaving the Crane family being interviewed and photographed outside the Royal Courts of Justice I high-tailed it to West Byfleet in Surrey where I met Davinder Misra outside his wife’s former Post Office.

Davinder and I recreated our first meeting, thirteen years ago, filmed for BBC Inside Out South. At that time, Davinder’s wife Seema was in prison. Davinder was in a bad way.

Today was a happier, but no less emotional occasion. BBC South East filmed us outside the former West Byfleet Post Office, now a building site. Davinder took me to the entrance to his flat, about 50 yards away. There he described how he was beaten up several times by some thugs who drank at a nearby pub, whilst he was trying to get home. He hadn’t told me this thirteen years ago because, at the time, he was still scared.

After our filming in West Byfleet, Davinder took me to their new house in Bisley where I was welcomed by Seema. We chatted about the last 13 years and everything that had happened. Seema and Davinder’s MP, Jonathan Lord, dropped by to say hello.

The previous day he had invited them up to the House of Commons to witness Prime Ministers’ Questions. Mr Lord asked to Rishi Sunak: “does the Prime Minster agree with me and more importantly with Seema Misra herself, who is in the gallery today with her husband Davinder, that she is due a full apology from the Post Office, a full apology from Fujitsu and proper compensation as a matter of urgency?”

The Prime Minister replied:

“The Horizon scandal is one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation’s history, and, as I said a few weeks ago, we will introduce primary legislation within weeks to ensure that all convictions that were based on erroneous Horizon evidence are quashed. That will clear people’s names, deliver justice and ensure swifter access to compensation. Innocent people such as my hon. Friend’s constituents have waited far too long, and I am determined that they receive compensation as swiftly as possible.”

Nothing new there, but I think Seema and Davinder welcomed the public vindication and recognitions from a packed House.

Wendy Buffrey patiently explains the Post Office Scandal to an attentive Canadian

Wendy Buffrey has completed a long-form interview with a Canadian podcaster called Kevjet. It’s a great conversation and further proof this scandal is certainly crossing the Atlantic.

Wendy is a compelling talker and has very kindly agreed to speak at a number of live events I’m doing across March, April and May.

I am told one has already sold out (the Abingdon date) and several more are likely to do so in the next couple of weeks.

If you want to come and see Wendy, or many other of the brilliant Subpostmasters who have kindly agreed to come along and share their stories, please have a look at the dates here. I am delighted that Tracey Merritt, Graham Ward, Tony Downey and Seema Misra have agreed to speak at various locations, joining Wendy, Nicki Arch, Bal Gill, Tim Brentnall, Lee Castleton, Parmod Kalia, Tony Downey, Sami Sabet, Scott Darlington and Michael Rudkin.

Tears of a Clown

There are all sorts of fresh outrages bubbling up from the significant amount of journalism being done by professionals and public-spirited individuals on an almost daily basis.

I think the worst I heard this week was the story of Robert Daily, the Post Office investigator who has been accused of going into a Subpostmasters’ house and seizing (well, stealing) their jewellery, despite the fact the Subpostmaster had not yet been charged with any crime, let alone convicted. Daily’s evidence was a car crash and included the confirmation that bonuses for investigators were linked to asset recovery from Subpostmasters.

Then we had Raymond Grant, another investigator wholly out of his depth, refusing to engage with reality and leaving lead counsel to the inquiry, Jason Beer, metaphorically scratching his head at the quality of people he being required to attempt to extract coherent answers from. Grant’s semi-detached responses to Beer’s questions concluded with a prepared apology, which appeared to choke him up.

Today’s Inquiry evidence came from David Teale, a procurator fiscal (a state prosecutor in Scotland) who revealed that whilst procurators fiscal were supposed to review evidence and decide whether or not to proceed to prosecution, Teale appeared to be engaged in a rubber-stamping exercise, relying on assuming what he was told by the Post Office about its Horizon evidence was true.

And finally…

Here’s a BBC story about the Post Office attitude towards Subpostmasters who suffered robberies at their branches (spoiler: horrendously unsympathetic).

Right. Tomorrow I’m going to Basingstoke to be interviewed by BBC Scotland. They’ve kindly given me several dozen pages of reading to do beforehand, so I better start genning up.

Thanks so much if you’ve joined the swelling ranks of secret emailers in the last couple of days. I hope you find this newsletter useful and/or at least diverting going forward!

Very best

Nick