Investigating the Post Office Scandal

A day of tedious technicality and extreme misery combined to flatten any Christmas cheer around central London on Thursday 8 December. Both Nic and Rebecca attended a special compensation hearing to find out that most things are a mess and going nowhere slowly. For the Subposmasters in attendance it was a very frustrating day. The one man with the power to do anything about this is the inquiry Chair, Sir Wyn Williams, but he wasn't saying anything. 

Please donate to keep this podcast in lunch money https://www.postofficescandal.uk/donate/

Post Office Horizon IT inquiry website https://www.postofficehorizoninquiry.org.uk

Nick's book https://bathpublishing.com/products/the-great-post-office-scandal-updated-pbk

Rebecca's first investigation for Computer Weekly in 2009: https://www.computerweekly.com/news

Four more former Secretaries of State gave evidence in the final week of Phase 2 of the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry as did former General Secretary of the National Federation of Subpostmasters, whose evidence was jaw-dropping. Colin Baker MBE told a Subpostmasters' barrister she shouldn't be asking what his organisation was up to whilst the Post Office was prosecuting his members over dodgy accounting data. Elsewhere Alan Johnson spoke about his days as a postie being watched by the feared Post Office Investigation Department goons and his disgust at the way Subpostmasters were prosecuted. He said if the NFSP had told him what was going on he would have put a stop to it immediately.

Donate to keep us afloat https://www.postofficescandal.uk/donate/

Inquiry website https://www.postofficehorizoninquiry.org.uk

Buy Nick's book https://bathpublishing.com/products/the-great-post-office-scandal-updated-pbk

Rebecca's first investigation for Computer Weekly in 2009: https://www.computerweekly.com/news

Our first former Secretary of State - Stephen Byers - and the first woman - Dr Sarah Graham - give evidence to Phase 2 of the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry. Nick and Rebecca have parsed the week's testimony to present all the newsworthy tidbits to you. We also promised  lots of links - so in the order in which they are mentioned in the podcast:

Rebecca's first investigation for Computer Weekly in 2009: https://www.computerweekly.com/news

Tony Collins' excellent blog post on how a similar scandal is likely: https://ukcampaign4change.com/2022/10/07/most-of-the-underlying-causes-of-the-post-office-it-scandal-are-unfixable/

Karl Flinders' Computer Weekly piece on Horizon inquiry IT expert Charles Cipione's findings: https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252527436/Post-Office-scandal-inquirys-expert-IT-witness-troubled-by-his-findings

Donate to keep us afloat! https://www.postofficescandal.uk/donate/

Have a look at the inquiry website! https://www.postofficehorizoninquiry.org.uk

Buy Nick's book! https://bathpublishing.com/products/the-great-post-office-scandal-updated-pbk

Dave McDonnell becomes the most important witness of the second phase of the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry so far by explaining in detail exactly how the Horizon system did not and would not work, how he told his bosses at Fujitsu and how they ignored his advice, sidelined him and rolled out a financial system into the Post Office estate, leaving it to wreak havoc on Subpostmasters. Nick and Rebecca trawl through two days of pretty intense evidence to bring you the audio highlights.

Inquiry website:

Dave McDonnell and Jan Holmes videos and transcript - Wed 16 Nov
Bob Booth and John Meagher video and transcript - Tue 15 Nov

Other links:

The Post Office Scandal website: https://www.postofficescandal.uk

Rebecca's substack page: https://rebeccathomson.substack.com

Come and see Nick and former Subpostmaster Ian Warren Norwich at the Playhouse on 21 November: https://norwichtheatre.org/whats-on/post-office-scandal-the-inside-story/

Buy an new updated paperback edition of Nick's book, The Great Post Office Scandal: https://bathpublishing.com/products/the-great-post-office-scandal-updated-pbk

This week Nick and Rebecca get under the bonnet of Fujitsu and watch various people chucking spanners around. They discover Fujitsu had a Special Horizon Laptop, that Fujitsu engineer Anne Chambers wasn't particularly happy about giving the evidence that helped bankrupt a Subpostmaster and that no one at Fujitsu cared much about Rebecca's 2009 investigation for Computer Weekly even though it suggested the company might be responsible for miscarriages of justice. As one Fujitsu manager - Mark Ascott - sneered, 'I tend not to believe what journalists write'. Hmm...

The Post Office Scandal website: https://www.postofficescandal.uk

Rebecca's substack page: https://rebeccathomson.substack.com

Come and see Nick and former Subpostmaster Ian Warren Norwich at the Playhouse on 21 November: https://norwichtheatre.org/whats-on/post-office-scandal-the-inside-story/

Buy an new updated paperback edition of Nick's book, The Great Post Office Scandal: https://bathpublishing.com/products/the-great-post-office-scandal-updated-pbk

Before the summer Lord (James) Arbuthnot (or Baron Arbuthnot of Edrom to give him his full title) very kindly agreed to give up some time to talk to Rebecca and Nick about his involvement in the Post Office Horizon scandal. We finally caught up in October and have only just got round to publishing the final podcast. An hour wasn't quite long enough, but the good Lord did reveal some intriguing details we haven't heard before including the revelation he applied to the government to succeed Tim Parker as Chairman of the Post Office, and didn't even get an interview!

The Post Office Scandal website: https://www.postofficescandal.uk

Rebecca's substack page: https://rebeccathomson.substack.com

Lord Arbuthnot: https://members.parliament.uk/member/56/career

Come and see Nick and former Subpostmaster Pam Stubbs in Henley on Thames on 10 November: https://kentontheatre.co.uk/event/the-great-post-office-scandal/134078/

Come and see Nick and former Subpostmaster Ian Warren Norwich at the Playhouse on 21 November: https://norwichtheatre.org/whats-on/post-office-scandal-the-inside-story/

Buy an new updated paperback edition of Nick's book, The Great Post Office Scandal: https://bathpublishing.com/products/the-great-post-office-scandal-updated-pbk

Another week of evidence from the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry concludes with a burning question still unanswered. Who at the Post Office decided to start using data from an obviously unstable IT system to criminally prosecute its own subpostmasters? The underlings didn't seem to know, the senior execs didn't seem to care. Rebecca Thomson and Nick Wallis pull it all apart for you.

We also promised you some links. Here you go...

The Post Office Scandal website: https://www.postofficescandal.uk

This is the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry website: https://www.postofficehorizoninquiry.org.uk

This is Rebecca's seminal 2009 Computer Weekly article which broke this story open: https://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240089230/Bankruptcy-prosecution-and-disrupted-livelihoods-Postmasters-tell-their-story

This is the link to come and see Nick and former Subpostmaster Pam Stubbs in Henley on Thames on 10 November: https://kentontheatre.co.uk/event/the-great-post-office-scandal/134078/

This is the link to buy an new updated paperback edition of Nick's book, The Great Post Office Scandal: https://bathpublishing.com/products/the-great-post-office-scandal-updated-pbk

Its part 2 of week 3 of phase two of the inquiry and three senior former executives from the Post Office and Fujitsu try to explain how they let the dodgy Horizon IT system out of the test labs and into the live Post Office estate where it wreaked havoc with Subpostmasters' businesses and lives. Rebecca and Nick pick over some of the key evidence and Nick plugs his live event with former Subpostmaster Pam Stubbs on 10 November at the Kenton Theatre in Henley on Thames. He promises to put the box office link in the podcast blurb, and look - here it is: https://kentontheatre.co.uk/event/the-great-post-office-scandal/

Keith Todd, former CEO of ICL (owned by Fujitsu) and Tony Oppenheim, former director of Pathway (later Horizon, owned by Fujitsu) get to work on trying to explain to the inquiry how they let the Horizon IT system  into the Post Office estate and how the Post Office were allowed to use data from that system to prosecute Subpostmasters for crimes they didn't commit.

Like watching a Greek tragedy or a car crash in slow motion. Rebecca and I sat and watched as an IT disaster was picked apart in granular detail at the Post Office Horizon inquiry. Also Nick has an exclusive on a witness demand for 'immunity' from prosecution at the inquiry and the reviews are in! Notices from the opening week of False Accounts - a satirical play about the scandal.