Archives :
2021
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Look North 16 Dec 2021
This news report by Mark Ansell features former Postmasters Harjinder Butoy and Alison Hall with a contextual cameo from me at the end.
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“This guy should never be let near a witness-box again”
The above photo is of Dr Robert Worden, who was an expert witness for the Post Office in the Horizon trial, which was part of the Bates v Post Office group litigation. You can read about my experience of watching Dr Worden be cross-examined here, and you can read Mr Justice Fraser’s thoughts on the…
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Compensation, Compensation, Compensation
Tuesday 14 December 2021 was a busy day in Westminster during which three sources of compensation for three distinct groups of Subpostmasters were discussed in various parliamentary corners. At just after 9am yesterday morning the Business (Postal Affairs) Minister Paul Scully (left) published a written statement announcing the government was going to underwrite compensation for…
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More Opposed Cases Fail at Appeal
Two Subpostmasters appealing their convictions at the Court of Appeal have failed to have them quashed. Roger Allen and Alan Robinson, who were prosecuted by the Department for Work and Pensions, were told today by a panel of three judges that Horizon evidence was not essential to their prosecution, and therefore their convictions would stand.…
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Govt Reverts to “Full and final” Mantra
It seems the government has given up on trying (if it ever was) to find a way to offer proper compensation to the 555 claimants who settled with the Post Office for £57.75m in December 2019. As we know, £46m of that compensation was spent on lawyers and legal success fees with each claimant receiving…
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Inquiry Confirms All Compensation Is Under Scrutiny
A week is certainly a long time in this story. Last Friday I was telling you Alan Bates had pulled the JFSA from the Statutory Inquiry into the Post Office Horizon Scandal because scrutiny of the compensation for the 555 was not explicitly present in the inquiry chair’s List of Issues. Bates encouraged his members…
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Seven More Convictions Quashed
Seven more Subpostmaster convictions have been quashed at the Court of Appeal, bringing the total number to 72. This represents just under a tenth of the 738 people convicted using Horizon evidence between 2000 and 2015 when the Post Office stopped prosecuting people. Pauline Stonehouse, Greg Harding, Angela Sefton, Anne Nield, Janine Powell, Marisa Finn…
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JFSA Withdraws From Inquiry
Founder says “the powers that be have decided the real and desperate needs of the victims are of no importance.” Alan Bates, the leader and founder of the Justice for Subpostmasters’ Alliance has decided not to co-operate with Sir Wyn Williams’ statutory inquiry into the Post Office Horizon IT disaster. Yesterday, Sir Wyn published the…
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Six More Convictions Quashed – Total Now 65
These were the first convictions quashed since July and the third round at Southwark Crown Court. As of today, the Southwark Crown Court has overturned sixteen convictions (six on 11 Dec 2020 and two on 14 May 2021) and the Court of Appeal has quashed the remaining 51 (39 in a judgment handed down on…
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Launch Day
Please forgive the indulgence of marking the launch day of my book with a blog post. It has been a very strange year. I am used to collaborating with people on broadcast projects, or firing off short blog posts. Putting together a 500 page monster over five and a half months has been another matter…