• We’re All Going On A Walk

    Ian Fagelson does London walks. Ian is a lawyer who I met for the first time at my book launch. Ian has been ridiculously helpful with his advice on how to set up a charity, and did an awful lot of work (pro bono) in getting the Horizon Scandal Fund registered with the Charities Commission. Ian has asked for nothing in return, other than strong-arming me into joining him on a guided walk round central London. The walk is call called Postman’s Park: The Crime and Punishment Tour. We meet on Thursday 29 September at St Paul’s Churchyard in the…

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  • Eleanor’s Letter

    Eleanor has spent many hours putting together serious and important research on what the Post Office and the government has been up to over the last 25 years with regard to the Horizon computer system. Recently, her precision-guided and relentless Freedom of Information requests grubbed up the Swift Review. This is a document so concerning that Richard Moorhead, professor of legal ethics at the University of Exeter, has so far devoted four (and counting) blog posts to fisking it. Eleanor Shaikh (pictured) is a force of nature. She is a selfless, committed campaigner who has worked tirelessly to support her…

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  • Press Release: Horizon Scandal Fund celebrates charitable status with substantial donation

    For immediate release – 22 September 2022 The Horizon Scandal Fund is delighted to have received registered charitable status ten months after its launch. The Fund is celebrating the occasion by formally welcoming a substantial donation made by Flora Page, one of the barristers who represented three subpostmasters in their successful quest to overturn their criminal convictions at the Court of Appeal last year. Flora has donated her net fees of £3256 for working on the case to the Horizon Scandal Fund. The Horizon Scandal Fund supports Subpostmasters who are struggling financially, emotionally and physically as a result of the…

    Read More…: Press Release: Horizon Scandal Fund celebrates charitable status with substantial donation
  • The Compensation Catch

    Last week Alan Bates stunned a small, but significant number of members of the Justice for Subpostmasters’ Alliance with a circular sent out on 12 September. The members concerned are a sub-group of the 555 claimants in Bates v Post Office who have what the government are terming ‘complex’ situations. There are about 100 of them. Some became mentally incapacitated before arranging lasting power of attorney (LPA), some are sadly dead, and the probate on their estate has not been sorted. Others are insolvent or bankrupt. Bates told this latter group ‘the stumbling block then, as it is now, is…

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  • Barrister’s Letter to the DPP

    Sabah Meddings (in the Sunday Times) and Rebecca Thomson (in both the Sunday Times and on our podcast, Investigating the Post Office Scandal) have already reported that the barrister Paul Marshall (pictured) has written to Max Hill QC, the Director of Public Prosecutions, asking him to consider bringing one or more charges of Perverting the Course of Justice (a criminal offence) against the Post Office or persons within it. I am now in possession of that letter, which I have uploaded below so you can read it in full, alongside the text of Mr Marshall’s speech at Queens University in…

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  • Secret 2016 Post Office Chairman’s Report Not Shared With PO Board

    Where to start with this…? Perhaps by thanking Eleanor Shaikh, whose forensic and determined FOI campaign has been unearthing some real gems. Yesterday, as a result of one of her requests, the Post Office published a hitherto secret report commissioned by the Post Office minister in September 2015 following the August 2015 Panorama investigation ‘Trouble at the Post Office’. I was told last month by a government source that this document was coming and was expected to set the cat among the pigeons. I hope it does. In 2015 Baroness Neville-Rolfe, on behalf of the government, told the incoming Post…

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  • Podcast Episode 6 – The Richards

    Subpostmaster Richard Hawkes and Professor Richard Moorhead speak to Rebecca Thomson Rebecca and I have put up another podcast. Hopefully you can see it on the left (if you can’t, you can find it here). If this is the first you’ve heard of our podcast – Investigating the Post Office Scandal, you are more than welcome to have a listen to the first five episodes here. In Episode 1 we discuss what we should call the podcast, introduce ourselves and the scandal, and then we get going on it. Do subscribe, like and/or follow if you feel so inclined. You…

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  • Compensation Hearing 2

    Bankruptcy and “severe psychiatric issues” Barristers outlined the impact on their clients caused by the Post Office Horizon scandal, and lambasted the Post Office for fighting postmasters “tooth and nail” The second compensation hearing at the ongoing public inquiry into the Post Office Horizon scandal heard that one in five of Hudgell Solicitors’ clients have experienced bankruptcy, and many have suffered “severe, enduring psychiatric issues” and long-term physical problems as a result of their ordeal at the hands of the Post Office. There is also a new three-week deadline in place for money to reach postmasters eligible for the government’s…

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  • Compensation Hearing 1

    A barrister acting on behalf of postmasters claiming compensation from the Post Office last week described the process as a “scandal within a scandal.” Speaking at the first compensation hearing at The Oval cricket ground in South London on 6 July 2022, Howe & Co’s lead counsel Sam Stein QC, on behalf of 153 of the postmasters affected, said: “The approach of the Post Office and BEIS [the department for business, energy and industrial strategy] replicates past behaviour. “There is the danger of a scandal within a scandal about compensation.” The July hearings (the second is on 13 July) are…

    Read More…: Compensation Hearing 1
  • Book Talk Dates

    All the following dates have been confirmed and those with links have tickets on sale now. I am hoping to have a special guest at every event. Keep checking this page to see who has been confirmed! 14 September – Sheringham Little Theatre, Sheringham 16 September – The Quay Theatre, Sudbury 19 September – Norwich Theatre Playhouse, Norwich with former Subpostmaster Ian Warren. 10 November – Kenton Theatre, Henley-on-Thames

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