To be absolutely aghast after watching Mr Bates v the Post Office

[Vistada]

I binged all of this in one go, no spoilers (although the current state of play is easily findable...)

AIBU to be absolutely aghast that this happened, and happened for so long.
Absolutely dystopian!

I think dystopian is a good description. Those poor people must have felt like they were in a living nightmare.

My understanding is that the CPS did not bring the prosecutions - the Post Office has its own investigatory and legal service and ran all the criminal investigations and prosecutions privately.

More detail here: The Post Office trial and the future of private prosecutions | COUNSEL | The Magazine of the Bar of England and Wales (counselmagazine.co.uk)

Spelling Correction - Paula Vennells

I'm also gobsmacked but I'm not surprised.
There is something about the way us humans take in information, when something out of the ordinary happens people can't grasp it.

Worse when you can't get access above basic call center staff.. And worse still when corporations close ranks instead of genuinely wanting to improve.

Horrific management and company culture.

Paula Vennells was given a CBE in 2019 by the Tory government for her services to the post office. Despite the union calling for it, she hasn't been stripped of that honour.

Our local Postmaster was one of the accused. They had to sell their house to pay the legal bills and he died before his name was cleared. Luckily majority of the village stood by the family and always believed he was not guilty

As pointed out on the other thread, this would principally harm the subpostmasters who run the POs. Better to use Evri (for eg) over Royal Mail, who are a different business to Post Office counters.

Alan Bates turned down an OBE this year because she hasn’t been asked to return it.

A very principled man.

There's already a thread or two going?

Apologies didn't see! @mnhq Happy for this to be closed

Absolutely shocking, those poor people. It was clear to the general public that some thing was seriously wrong with the system when suddenly, after being known as some of the most trusted members of their communities, post masters? started appearing in court accused of fraud and finding themselves in jail. Over years. This was a massive cover up from the top and those involved should be charged with conspiracy -:because they knew it was wrong- and spend time in jail themselves. But I won't hold my breath. More likely the CEO will get a life peerage. Dreadful.

Heard it on the radio - DISGUSTING

Horizon was an IT system implemented by ICL (swallowed up and rebranded as Fujitsu by its parent company also called Fujitsu). Was any blame apportioned to them?

It's still ongoing.

Most sub post masters etc have not received proper compensation yet.

Have the people who were jailed been compensated?

What happened to all the "missing" money the victims paid out of their own pockets?

Where did it go?

I'm not convinced the errors with horizon were ever properly explained.

There is a brilliant podcast about this whole debacle.

The spectacular failure that was Horizon is made by Fujitsu- who are still being awarded govt contracts

https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366560655/Controversial-Fujitsu-contract-with-Post-Office-extended-again

https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/18/fujitsugetss142millionnuk/

A masterclass in how to fail upwards.

Boycotting PO will just hurt the postmasters so is counter productive.
Massive project to bring out a new branch system as we speak, although does seem to little too late.
I knew of the stories but honestly shocked watching the program and the documentary alongside it too!

@Allofaflutter

One of the reasons this was such an appalling disaster was the the CPS didn't prosecute.
The PO did it in-house.
Lawyers who have followed this from the beginning knew it was a massive mistake.
Absolute credit to Private Eye for doggedly pursuing this for years!

My dad knew someone this happened too. It was hard.

A local postmaster was involved. It was devastating for them as the local community shunned them.

It's appalling how long it took for the scandal to be uncovered.

The CPS should be prosecuting the PO management for manslaughter given that there were people that committed suicide over this.

I didn't realise that was even possible for criminal matters?!
I don't want to watch the series as I know it will be awful. I have followed the story over the years and like everyone just feel shock and disbelief that it could happen in the UK. Those poor poor postmasters. Beyond awful.

"What happened to all the "missing" money the victims paid out of their own pockets?
Where did it go?"

Into a suspense account and then absorbed into subsequent FY's profits apparently @TheClitterati

Disgusting

“Following full privatisation in 2015 the Royal Mail Group retained its investigative branch and its legal department and continued to prosecute about 150 cases per year as a private prosecutor.”

From the link I posted earlier.

Haven't watched it yet but read an article- I knew of what had happened vaguely but not the details. Completely insane.

It’s useful to have this in AIBU.

What an absolute disgrace. We should be marching on the streets and demanding justice. That people lost their livelihoods, erroneously went to prison and even ended their own lives over this is unbearable. We need to not let this go.