Wednesday, July 10, 2024

Honorary doctorate for Post Office campaigner

 Coventry University Sir Alan Bates

Coventry University
Sir Alan Bates became the subject of a television series which brought the Horizon scandal to the forefront of public consciousness

Campaigner Sir Alan Bates is to receive an honorary doctorate in recognition of his work to get justice for wrongfully convicted postmasters.

Coventry University will award the doctorate next week, in recognition of his efforts to clear the names of those accused of theft and fraud.

He founded the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA) and in 2017 brought a group action in the High Court with 500 others to expose failings with the Post Office’s Horizon accounting system.

Recently knighted Sir Alan, 69, will join students for a ceremony at Coventry Cathedral where he will receive an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws.

“I hadn’t expected this and it was very much a surprise. My other half asked me ‘are you going to accept it?’ and I said ‘I think I will’ as I have turned down an awful lot of things," he said.

“However, this isn’t about me – this is about the group, what has happened and what still needs to happen now.”

The university’s vice chancellor, Professor John Latham, said Sir Alan epitomised the qualities the institution tries to instil in its students – including passion, dedication and determination.

“Sir Alan has spent the last 20 years fighting one of the biggest injustices seen in this country for some time.

“He has done so tirelessly, selflessly and with no desire to take credit for himself – he has simply wanted to do the right thing for hundreds of people who had been wronged,” he said.

“Our students should look at Sir Alan and feel inspired to achieve with the same levels of resilience, leadership and collaboration with others.”


Ex-Post Office chair denies hiding key Horizon report

Former Post Office chair Tim Parker has denied deliberately hiding a key report he commissioned into the Horizon IT system from members of the Post Office board.

The 2016 report, written by former top Treasury lawyer Jonathan Swift, raised concerns about the accounting software which was later found to be faulty.

Incorrect data from Horizon led to the wrongful conviction of 700 sub-postmasters for theft and fraud between 1999 and 2015.

On Wednesday, an inquiry into the scandal heard that only four copies of the Swift report were made, none of which were shared with the Post Office board or the government.

Mr Parker said he had been acting on advice from Post Office lawyers not to share the document.

"It's one of my regrets that I got this advice and I took it," he said. "Could we have shared it? I wish we had, in a way.

"I've had this report commissioned, I wanted to get some kind of result from it, but then I get this advice." 

All subpostmaster convictions have now been quashed, but many people went to prison or lost their businesses.

The Swift report was commissioned by the government following a BBC Panorama programme in 2015 that raised concerns about the strength of evidence against those convicted.

Although supportive of the Post Office in parts, it raised key concerns about whether the Post Office had enough evidence to bring charges of theft.

It also cast doubt over claims that Horizon data could not be altered remotely by Fujitsu, the company that developed the software.

This turned out to be untrue, and may have deprived subpostmasters of an important line of defence at their trials.

Mr Parker, who became chair of the Post Office in October 2015, and remained in the role until September 2022, told the inquiry that top Post Office lawyer Jane MacLeod had advised him not to share the Swift report because it was legally privileged.

That meant it had the same confidential status as communications between a lawyer and a client.

Mr Parker said he was told that breaching this could have resulted in the report being made public, and that it needed to be kept within the "tightly knit" Post Office legal team.

'I had no vested interest in protecting the Post Office'

When challenged by inquiry lead counsel Jason Beer, Mr Parker conceded that by doing this he had prevented the board from discussing the report's findings.

However, he said he believed that the Post Office legal team would "take forward" the report's recommendations and denied hiding it for improper motives.

"What possible motive would I have had at the time from hiding this report from my fellow board members, other than receiving advice that I shouldn't share it?" he said.

"Bear in mind I had no axe to grind on this, I had no vested interest in trying to protect the Post Office."

He continued: "With hindsight of course, it would appear there were motives perhaps underpinning some of the advice or direction of this that were not wholly fair or right or in the interests of people who'd be wronged.

"At the time, however, it seemed to me that the people giving me advice... were doing this in good faith and it was the right thing to do."

In later questioning, lawyer Sam Stein said as chair Mr Parker had been "part time" and his decisions had been "part baked".

Mr Parker initially worked one and a half days per week on his Post Office responsibilities, and later dropped this down to half a day per week.

But Mr Parker rejected Mr Stein's characterisation, saying: "I don’t accept that. I gave sufficient time and attention to the Post Office. I’m sorry." 

Government knew Post Office ditched Horizon probe

After the Swift review, auditors Deloitte were commissioned in February 2016 to look through Horizon transactions going back to 1999.

But this probe was dropped in June 2016 after sub-postmasters led by campaigner Sir Alan Bates launched legal action against the Post Office.

Mr Parker acknowledged that had the report not been secret, the Post Office may have taken a different approach to the High Court action which it lost at a cost of more than £100m.

But he also said that by that stage it may have needed a judge to resolve all the issues.


Post Office scandal victim calls honour fantastic


Bangor University Noel Thomas in his graduation gown, sitting at a wooden table in front of bookshelvesBangor University

Noel Thomas was wrongly convicted of false accounting after the Horizon computer system failed

Former sub-postmaster Noel Thomas has been honoured for his role in campaigning for justice against the Post Office.

He was awarded an honorary degree by Bangor University on Tuesday for his public service in raising awareness of the Horizon scandal.

Hundreds of people were convicted after faulty Horizon software flagged false discrepancies in accounts.

A public inquiry has been looking at how the court cases were brought against sub-postmasters.

Mr Thomas, from Gaerwen, Anglesey, was wrongly convicted of false accounting after the Horizon computer system failed. 

He campaigned alongside others to clear the names of Post Office sub-postmasters who faced criminal convictions.

He successfully appealed his conviction and has since gone on to tell his story as he "wanted others who had suffered to come forward and secure justice".

He called the honour "fantastic, not for me but for my family and for my friends up and down the country who have stood in togetherness to fight the establishment". 

Noel standing in the Bangor library with his university robes, flanked by his daughter and wife

Noel with his wife Eira and daughter Sian

Following a standing ovation, Mr Thomas told new graduates: "Go home to where you came from, work hard and do your best for your fellow countrymen."

Speaking ahead of the ceremony, he said: "From a humble postman to standing here.

"Having worked in Bangor Sorting Office for two years I used to look up through the window at this fantastic building up on the hill and never thought I'd be standing here today."

He added he was using the ceremony as a "trial run" for his grandson who will soon be graduating in chemistry from Swansea University and has been "pulling his leg" about it.

Sir Alan Bates, from Llandudno, Conwy county, will also be recognised for this role in the campaign later this week.

"He deserves it more than I do because he's fought hard on our behalf," Mr Thomas said.

PA Media An older man wearing a suit with a lilac shirt and a blue and yellow tiePA Media

Alan Bates' fight for justice inspired ITV’s drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office

Sir Alan spent two decades of his life advocating for justice and clearing the names of Post Office managers who were affected.

He founded the Justice for Sub-postmasters Alliance (JSFA) in 2009.

The group played a leading role in the legal battle to seek justice for those whose lives were adversely affected and to ensure compensation for those wrongly accused.

In 2017, a group of 555 sub-postmasters took legal action against the Post Office, with it agreeing to pay them £58m in compensation in 2019.

Their stories were inspired and the subject of a series by ITV called Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which was watched by millions of viewers.

"But for Alan we wouldn't be where we are today," Mr Thomas said.

"[He] has been like a dog, once he had the bone he wouldn't let go."

The other recipients of this year’s honorary degrees include Manon Steffan Ros and Dr Susan Chomba.

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