plus: Chris goes to Parliament

Good evening

I know I said I wouldn’t write until Friday, but if I did, that email would end up being several yards long. So here is an unplanned midweek special.

The photo above shows indefatigable campaigner Chris Head after a meeting with the Post Office All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) at Portcullis House in London. An APPG is a talking shop of interested parties from both the House of Lords and House of Commons. it’s an opportunity to invite guest speakers and/or talk about their chosen area of interest between themselves in order to effect outcomes.

Chris told me his experience as a guest speaker was “interesting but also important so that the attendees understood the facts on the ground compared to the statements and rhetoric from Post Office, Ministers & government.”

Chris has been doing outstanding work behind the scenes, all of his own bat, to further the cases of many, many Subpostmasters with difference circumstances and compensation claims (aided by his MP, Kate Osborne).

He said: “I was able to share with the APPG real life experiences of the compensation problems, the reasons/excuses for pushbacks, suggestions for solving the issues and also talk about how the constant failure to right the wrongs of the past is every day damaging the future of the network & current Postmasters business.”

Do look out for a piece about the Post Office featuring Chris Head on Channel 4 News tomorrow.

Incidentally, Marion Fellowes (pictured above) secured an Urgent Question in the House of Commons yesterday. Here is the transcript.

Meanwhile at the Inquiry…

We are into the final week of Phase 4 of the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry. I have so far only watched the first hour minutes of the evidence given by Frederick Thorpe, a Post Office investigator who worked across Scotland, the North of England and Northern Ireland, often hand-in-hand with Suzanne Winter, who was based in Northern Ireland (and gave evidence on Friday last week).

The first 40 minutes is fairly anodyne, though when asked why he stated in his witness statement that Suzanne Winter was “highly trained”, he had no idea or evidence that she had been trained at all. Then, after a bit more chit-chat he states that at no time, in all his 100 or so investigations of Subpostmasters does he have any recollection of he or his colleagues ever requesting Horizon audit data when conducting those investigations.

Journalism a-go go

This month’s Private Eye p94 podcast briefly discusses reaction to the Post Office Scandal – Ian Hislop describes receiving 400 letters on the subject over the last two weeks.

Private Eye have also made this column freely available online (for now), but if you have the resources, do subscribe to the magazine. Most of the journalism stays in the print edition.

On that note, I have been tipped of that a very, very interesting photo, featuring Paula Vennells, will appear in tomorrow’s edition. To find out more, buy the magazine, or watch TalkTV tomorrow.

You might also be interested in this refreshing no-nonsense visualised podcast interview over Zoom with Tony Collins. Whilst at Computer Weekly, Tony commissioned Rebecca Thomson’s seminal 2009 investigation into Horizon which first broke this story. Tony spells out in detail how he was first put in contact with Subpostmaster campaigners Alan Bates and Lee Castleton and how the investigation came about.

Tony also runs a superb blog and free newsletter called Campaign4Change, and posts irregular but extraordinary pieces, full of expert insight, on the scandal.

Karl Flinders has more on Capture – a predecessor IT system to Horizon which was written by the Post Office’s own in-house IT team. I think this could be a rich seam for Computer Weekly to mine.

And more…

“Daughter of Horizon scandal victim calls for jail time” – Katy Crane has spoken to the BBC after her mum’s conviction was quashed.

A new take on how to get Subpostmaster convictions quashed from a senior MP: “David Davis: bring former Supreme Court judges out of retirement to exonerate innocent postmasters“. I’m going to see David Davis for a cup of tea next month, and I’m looking forward to seeing what more he has to say about all this.

More alleged problems with the current Horizon system: “Sub-postmaster claims updated Horizon software caused £2,900 debt“

Two slightly older stories I failed to put in the last newsletter:

Mum was jailed in new Post Office scandal, now she’s too ill to clear her name – in the i newspaper. Poignant and devastating.

Post Office accused of cover-up over secret Horizon documents – a scoop for Andy Verity at the BBC, who has got access to revealing unredacted internal Post Office documents.

You’re having a Bath

This story has gone so nuts Helen and David at Bath Publishing are now being profiled by the BBC. Bet they never thought this photo of them after they finished the Bath Half Marathon in aid of the Horizon Scandal Fund would be seen by thousands of people!

Helen, David and Hannah at Bath Publishing have been outstanding advocates for people whose lives have been blighted by this scandal, and their recent work behind the scenes for the Horizon Scandal Fund (along with our other brilliant trustees) has kept the show on the road, making a real difference.

PBS Masterpiece has bought Mr Bates vs The Post Office for screening in the US. I suspect it won’t be long before Alan Bates’ agent will be fending off enquiries from Hollywood!

And now for something completely different

Forgive me for trying to interest you in non-Post Office related stuff, but I am rather proud of this podcast series I front for the Organised Crime and Corruption reporting project. The latest episode has dropped – it concerns Russian payments to Catalonian separatists in Spain!

Incidentally, if you want to watch TalkTV breakfast, which I’m covering for the next couple of weeks, I’m on between 0600 and 0930 Mon – Thu, Freeview Channel 237 with the dazzling Rosie Wright. Or you can watch live on your computer or via the TalkTV app.

Thanks

A big thank you to everyone who has signed up to the newsletter in recent days, or kindly posted links to many of the pieces I’ve referred to above on social media.

I am particularly grateful to Paul McGuire who has taken to diligently sending me an email every time he comes across anything remotely interesting connected to this story (which is often). He doesn’t mind me outing him as a secret emailer. Thank you Paul, and thank you to everyone else who is doing so much to spread awareness of this story.

Please do keep an eye on the live events page which is being updated whenever there is something to tell you. I am absolutely thrilled to be able to tell you that Tracy Felstead will be joining me on stage alongside Tim Brentnall for the evening presentation at the Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury on Sunday 14 April. Tracy is the most wonderful person and I am deeply grateful to her for being willing to share her experience since being wrongfully accused of theft by the Post Office.

I am equally delighted to tell you that Rubbina and Mohamed Shaheen will be with me on stage during the afternoon presentation on the same date, again at the Theatre Severn. This has all come together in the last few days and I think it should make for a very special day.

Best

Nick