Highlighting some of the heroes – the Post Office scandal

As the Horizon IT Post Office Inquiry Phase 6 comes to an end, and ever more shocking evidence appears about how sub-postmasters were unlawfully convicted as part of a massive criminal conspiracy, when considering all of the bad actors who contributed to the biggest miscarriage of justice in English legal history, it’s worth remembering that there are also people who fall into the opposite category.

Rebecca Thomson and Karl Flinders – Computer Weekly

One of the first journalists to cover the case, Thomson’s role was pivotal. Working for Computer Weekly, she was the first to report on the flaws within the Horizon IT system, as long ago as 2009.

Her articles demonstrated how the Post Office used flawed data to accuse sub postmasters of theft, fraud, and false accounting. Despite the Post Office’s efforts to suppress the story – threatening injunctions and denying any material issues with the Horizon system, Thomson persisted, resulting in the scandal gradually attracting wider media attention.

Beyond her initial reporting, Thomson continued to advocate for the victims through various platforms, including co-hosting a podcast with Nick Wallis, ensuring that the plight of the affected sub postmasters remained in the public eye. Thomson’s relentless pursuit of the truth and her commitment to journalistic integrity were instrumental in uncovering Horizon’s systemic failures.

As a senior editor and journalist at Computer Weekly, Flinders followed up upon her initial work, building the story’s momentum.

Flinders’ investigative reporting delved into technical and legal intricacies of Horizon, and his articles meticulously documented how its flaws led to significant accounting discrepancies, which the Post Office wrongly attributed to sub-postmasters’ dishonesty.

Flinders’ work was characterised by thorough research and persistent inquiries. He interviewed sub-postmasters, legal experts, and IT professionals, gathering evidence that demonstrated the systemic failures and the Post Office’s refusal to acknowledge Horizon’s problems. His reporting exposed not only technological faults but also institutional denial and cover-ups, and brought a public focus on the issue which is on-going to this day

Professor Richard Moorhead

An academic at the University of Exeter, Moorhead was an early contributor to the critical discourse. He examined the nexus of  legal, ethical and managerial failures through analysis of legal documents, court cases and testimonies of affected sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses.  He is one of the few academics who regularly and vociferously speaks out about the scandal.

Moorhead’s interest began when he was asked to investigate the notorious 2019 High Court judgements in the Bates’ case. Since then, he has provided a much-needed voice of clarity and criticism on the Post Office’s handling of the issues over the years, publishing in academic journals and more widely.  Moorhead currently leads ‘The Post Office Project’, a dedicated research team with expertise in lawyers’ ethics, miscarriages of justice, and organisational culture and ethical behaviour.

Moorhead’s commitment to justice, combined with academic rigour, has been instrumental in uncovering complex layers of ethical and legal lapses.

He is also a member of the Independent Advisory Board of parliamentarians and academics set up to oversee the Group Litigation Order additional compensation scheme being created by the Department of Business and Trade. Their role is to provide advice about the compensation scheme for those affected.

Lord James Arbuthnot

The wrongfully accused postmasters and sub-postmasters were turned away by many establishment figures in their bid for help. Amongst the deflection and defences, Lord James Arbuthnot, former Conservative MP for North-East Hampshire, saw the scandal for what it was.

Approached in 2009 by Jo Hamilton and David Bristow, two sub-postmasters and constituents unjustly accused of theft, Lord Arbuthnot advocated tirelessly for those harmed by the Post Office, acting as a lone voice inside the establishment.

Initially raising the cases with then-Business Secretary Peter Mandelson in 2009, Arbuthnot said he believed the Horizon IT system was responsible for the shortfalls. His warnings were ignored, and he was told by ministers that the government took an ‘arm’s-length approach’ with the Post Office. Essentially, he met blame shifting and an intolerable lack of accountability.

Given it is the sole Post Office shareholder, Lord Arbuthnot was bewildered by the government’s remarkable adeptness at evading responsibility, but he stood resolute. The noise he made and his sheer persistence helped to elevate the scandal from a whisper to a roar inside the walls of Westminster, culminating in the Inquiry. He is deservedly considered a driving force in bringing the Post Office and its enablers to account.

Ian Hislop and Private Eye

A well-known British journalist, satirist, and television personality, Hislop has been unrelenting in uncovering the truth about the scandal, thrusting it into the spotlight in his role as editor of Private Eye.

Private Eye has been reporting on the scandal for over a decade. Its coverage has been outstanding, including a special report in 2020, “Justice Lost in the Post” .

Hislop was presented with a Fellowship Award for outstanding contribution to journalism at the Society of Editors’ 25th Anniversary Conference in recognition of his advocacy for “the public’s right to know and free speech including the persistent campaigning work of Private Eye under his editorship which included reporting on the Post Office Horizon scandal”.

Private Eye continues to generate extensive coverage for victims of the scandal.

Paul Marshall and Flora Page

Both barristers appeared in early legal battles following Mr Justice Fraser’s seminal “Horizon Issues” judgment in December 2019. They played a decisive role in the outcome of the Court of Appeal process in 2020-2021, where 39 of 42 initial appeals were granted on grounds of ‘second category abuse of the process of the court.’ The Appeal Court found that by prosecuting its postmasters, the Post Office had likely undermined the integrity of the criminal justice system or public confidence in it.

Paul Marshall, a barrister experienced in financial law and civil commercial fraud, represented several prominent Post Office victims in the Court of Appeal. He highlighted systemic issues and concealment of evidence by the Post Office.  He elicited, with Nick Gould (see below) the disclosure of the now infamous July 2013 “Clarke Advice”, having spotted reference to the Post Office notifying its insurers about evidence given by Gareth Jenkins.  The Clarke Advice is one of the most important documents in the entire scandal. Marshall’s legal acumen and advocacy laid the foundation for the Court of Appeal’s April 2021 conclusion that the prosecutions and convictions of the first 39 appellants “were an affront to the conscience of the court” and to justice. Among other implications, this was the mainspring for claims of malicious prosecution by the Post Office and related compensation claims for those wrongfully convicted.  It also lies behind the numerous convictions quashed by parliament, the courts being unable to process this many appeals in a reasonable period, under the Horizon Issues (Criminal Offences) Act 2024.

Page was Marshall’s junior in the Court of Appeal, and with him and Aria Grace Law, advanced the appeals on second category abuse – to which all the other appellants and their lawyers signed-up after December 2020.  Together with Ed Henry KC, Flora is a star at the Inquiry representing a large number of postmasters:  praised for her skilful cross-examination of Post Office witnesses and others.

In 2020 both Marshall and Page were subject to threats in the Court of Appeal by the Post Office’s lead counsel, Brian Altman KC – but both he and the Post Office later, sensibly, thought better of it and backtracked.  In hindsight, these attacks could have been last throws of the dice by the Post Office which from 2013, had concealed the Clarke Advice and its damning contents – that as long ago as 2013, the Post Office knew that its principal expert had repeatedly misled the court in Post Office prosecutions and put the Post Office in breach of  duties owed to the court as prosecuting authority.  That information, had it been disclosed at the time, as it should have been, would have enabled appeals by convicted postmasters to happen years before 2020 – from 2013.

Both Marshall and Page faced significant professional risks, but their work was not only pivotal in overturning wrongful convictions, but also underscored the fundamental importance of ethical conduct and transparency in legal proceedings. In the Post Office prosecutions, sight of those requirements appears to have been wholly lost.

Nick Gould

If anyone is a true unsung hero of the Post Office Scandal, it is solicitor Nick Gould of Aria Grace Law.

Piqued into action from what he had seen in a previous landmark miscarriage of justice, the HBOS Reading case, he has acted for a number of sub-postmasters for a number of years on a completely pro bono basis, i.e. his firm did not charge.  Gould’s actions should be praised particularly in light of widespread and wholly understandable cynicism about lawyers’ fees in the context of the Post Office’s legal spend being twice what they have paid out in compensation. Gould took the cases on because he saw the gravity of the miscarriage of justice and felt morally compelled to act, even more remarkable given that he is a corporate solicitor – so this is not his specialist field.

In the ultimate of ironies, Nick is the only solicitor to date to have received a disciplinary charge from the Solicitors Regulatory Authority for what was purely a technical infringement. This while some lawyers (internal and external) appear to have committed possible criminal offences while defending the Post Office, none of whom have yet been sanctioned. Nick continues to ‘shout from the rooftops’ on social media about the scandal.

Nick Wallis

Nick Wallis would not have wanted to be included in this list – he claims he is just a journalist doing his job. But not even Nick is probably aware of the personal impact he has had.

His interest and involvement started several years ago, but the two gamechangers were his hugely successful May 2020 podcast for Radio 4, ‘the Great Post Office Trial’, and the publication of his 2021 book ‘The Great Post Office Scandal’. It told the story, unflinchingly, of when the Post Office became aware that Horizon didn’t work properly, it simply covered it up. Wallis described how a group of Sub-postmasters worked out what was going on, formed a campaign group, and fought the Post Office through the courts to eventual victory. Truth is, in this case, stranger than fiction, and the book has had a profound impact.

Nick continues to be the most high-profile journalist reporting on the scandal. He has recently completed a nationwide tour where he appeared on stage with different sub-postmasters, unearthing their devastating stories and the impact that the scandal has had on them and their families, and he attends the Inquiry most days to report and live-tweet and produces a compelling daily blog. In his spare time, Wallis also covered the far sexier story of Depp v Heard, but has had to fit that around the Post Office Scandal.

Ian Henderson and Ron Warmington

Ian Henderson and Ron Warmington of independent forensic investigators Second Sight were pivotal figures in uncovering the Post Office Horizon IT scandal. Appointed to investigate systemic issues reported by sub postmasters, they found numerous bugs and defects in the Horizon IT system that had led to wrongful accusations of theft and fraud against sub-postmasters.

Despite attempts by the Post Office, especially under former CEO Paula Vennells, to control the narrative and suppress their findings, Henderson and Warmington remained steadfast in their independence. Their interim 2013 report highlighted serious flaws in the Horizon system and criticized the Post Office for not addressing them. This resistance led to Second Sight’s removal, but their work provided critical evidence that supported the legal battles of the sub-postmasters, ultimately leading to the recognition of wrongful convictions and the push for justice and compensation.

Henderson and Warmington have also been key witnesses at the Inquiry, detailing the systemic failures and wrongful prosecutions. Their dedication to uncovering the truth and their resistance to external pressures have been vital in exposing one of the UK’s largest miscarriages of justice.