In which Nick interviews the former Post Office minister about his experience of taking office in the weeks after the Bates v Post Office settlement, overseeing the establishment of the Post Office Horizon Inquiry and the various compensation schemes.
In which Nick is joined by Mark Baker, former Postmaster and CWU rep, and Ron Warmington, forensic accountant, fraud investigator and Chairman of Second Sight, which conducted the first independent investigation of the Post Office's Horizon system.
Nick and Rebecca interview Noel Thomas and Aled Gwyn Jôb, who with Sian Thomas have co-written a book about Noel's experience of being prosecuted by the Post Office for theft and false accounting. The book is called The Stamp of Innocence . It has just been published and currently only available as an e-book from Amazon , but there are plans to make it available as a paperback, most likely early in 2024. Noel has already published the Welsh language version of his story (" Llythyr Noel: Dal y Po...
Rebecca and I were delighted to record an episode with Howe and Co partner David Enright, a lawyer who represents more than 100 Subpostmasters at the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry. This is a proper wide-ranging chat covering Sir Wyn Williams compensation report, the Post Office disclosure debacle, bonusgate, restorative justice, whether ALL Post Office prosecutions should be re-examined, how long the inquiry will last and what it's like to be working at the coal face of a process like this. Sir...
As both Nick and Rebecca were unable to attend the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry Compensation Hearing on 27 April, they thought it best to speak to some people who were. Sadly Rebecca was also unable to co-host the podcast so Nick brought in Professor Richard Moorhead from Exeter University (and member of the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board), Helen Lacey from Bath Publishing (and trustee of the Horizon Scandal Fund) and Robert Nicholson, Senior Editor at Whistledown Productions (and award-w...
In which the Post Office Minister Kevin Hollinrake explains the new compensation scheme for Postmasters who were part of the High Court group litigation, declares the Historical Shortfall Scheme fit for purpose, says he wants people held to account over the Horizon scandal and appears ready to support a Duty of Candour law if it prevents something similar happening again. After the interview with Mr Hollinrake, Nick speaks once more to Lee Castleton, a likely applicant to the scheme, nineteen ye...
In which Nick, Rebecca and special guest Varchas Patel pick over the recent evidence to the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry. One Fujitsu witness who worked on the Horizon Helpdesk described hearing colleagues shout about having 'another Patel scamming' on the phone again. We also discuss Nick and Varchas' experience of being trustees on the Horizon Scandal Fund, a charity set up by Nick's publisher, Bath Publishing, to help Subpostmasters and their families in need. Donate below! Horizon Scandal ...
In which Nick interviews Nadhim Zahawi's nemesis, Dan Neidle, founder of Tax Policy Associates. Dan has recently waded into the Post Office Horizon Scandal, and is pretty sure at least one compensation scheme for victims of the scandal is unfair. Dan is a great talker and entertaining company. He talks about his career as a tax layer, The Downfall of Zahawi, SLAPPs and of course the Post Office. In the podcast we promise plenty of links to aid your understanding and reading, but before we do... ...
In 2002, Baljit and Anjana Sethi (pictured), were trusted Subpostmasters in Essex. They were was sacked by the Post Office over a £17,000 discrepancy in one of their branches' accounts. The Sethis had successfully run a Post Office branch for more than 20 years. Baljit told the Brentwood Gazette at the time it was not their fault, rather it was down the Post Office's Horizon IT system. In 2019 the Sethis were proved right. Baljit and Anjana have been fighting for compensation for more than two y...
Phase 3 of the inquiry begins with a statement on the running sore of Postmaster compensation (three schemes now running and counting) - we have news of Alan Bates, founder of the Justice for Subpostmasters' Alliance turning down an OBE - Nick has got his hands on the Altman Advice (or one of them, anyway) and oh yes - all the evidence from the inquiry itself. It's all go-ish. The inquiry evidence was a bit dull.
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 mon...
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 Po...
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...
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 web...
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 Asc...
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 Pa...
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 ...
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...
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.
A monster week in the Post Office Scandal - Tony Blair knew the Horizon IT system was a disaster (and ordered his minions to make it not so), the finger-pointing began in earnest, Post Office internal legal advice revealed for the first time, plus interviews with Flora Page and Lee Castleton. This podcast is powered by crowdfunding. If you can spare a dime... https://www.postofficescandal.uk/donate/
This is the episode to listen to if you want a 60 second précis of the Post Office Horizon scandal and want to get your head round the re-start to the Inquiry , which begins Phase 2 on Tuesday 11 October. Plus - Rebecca has an exclusive interview with David Enright from Howe and Co, the law firm representing the majority of Subpostmaster participants at the Inquiry. To keep this podcast going through the Inquiry, Nick and Rebecca have also launched a crowdfunding campaign, which you can donate t...
In this episode, Nick speaks to Lance Nielsen (writer and co-director with Dickon Tolson) and Suzette Pluck (producer) of False Accounts, a satirical play about the Post Office Horizon scandal. Lance and Suzette talk about the difficulties of putting on a play without funding, choosing which Subpostmasters' stories will be told and naming the characters who will feature, and those who did not quite make the final cut. False Accounts premieres in Birmingham at the Old Joint Stock Theatre on 19 Oc...
Deirdre Connolly is a former Subpostmaster from County Tyrone in Northern Ireland. She was one of the 555 civil litigants who took the Post Office to the High Court and won. In 2010, Deirdre, who had successfully run her Post Office in Killeter without a problem for four years, was told she had a £15,000 discrepancy. She was suspended without pay on the spot. Deirdre was asked by a Post Offie investigator if she was working with the paramilitaries. A whispering campaign began in her local villag...
Tim Brentnall had his conviction quashed last year. Tim was the Postmaster in the tiny village of Roch in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Tim was in his twenties when he was convicted. Nick and Tim talk about the whole experience and Tim's reluctance to join the inquiry, his viral video when he gave his personal statement at the end of his hearing, and what he was doing travelling to the inquiry for a clandestine meeting earlier this week. All very intriguing. After Tim, Nick and Rebecca conduct an intern...
Lee was there right at the beginning, has seen it all and has campaigned hard every step of the way. How hard is to be a campaigner when you've been sapped of your energy and you have no funds to fight? Lee should be celebrating victory after helping Alan Bates lead 500+ claimants to victory at the High Court in 2019, but the reality is very different. Lee is a great talker and one of the true heroes of the Subpostmasters' campaign. He featured in Rebecca's original Computer Weekly article in 20...
In this episode, John O'Sullivan, the recently elevated joint Subpostmaster of Borough Wash Post Office talks about his life working in his partner's Post Office for more than two decades, his childhood as a Jehovah's Witness and his Irish Rebel family history. John also explains his empathy for victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal and why he is focusing his attention on the NFSP and the Post Office hierarchy. Well worth a listen!
On 11 August there was a huge FOI drop thanks to the tireless efforts of campaigner Eleanor Shaikh. You can read and/or download that report here , or just listen to barrister Paul Marshall, Rebecca Thomson and Nick Wallis discuss it. Paul also tells us why he wrote to the Director of Public Prosecutions outlining his concerns that there has been a Conspiracy to Pervert the Course of Justice at the Post Office....
Rebecca is holiday, but despite this she has helped put together a stunning Sunday Times piece and recorded an interview with Dr Hannah Quirk, a reader in criminal law at Kings College, London. Dr Quirk used to work at the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) and has an impressive breadth of knowledge on historical miscarriages of justice. She is obviously interested in the Post Office scandal and explains to Rebecca how it fits into other miscarriages of justice in the UK.
Rebecca has been along to the Court of Appeal to witness five more Subpostmasters have their convictions quashed. She spoke to one of them - Richard Hawkes - about his ordeal. Rebecca has also interviewed legal blogger and academic Professor Richard Moorhead from Exeter University who has opened up an entire field of study based on the Post Office Scandal, particularly the legal failings which have been highlighted. Nick, on the other hand, is ill with what sounds like a suspicious dose of man-f...
