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Redress scheme for families of Post Office victims announced
Read More…: Redress scheme for families of Post Office victims announcedThe government has today announced a new compensation scheme for families of those affected by the Post Office scandal. It looks to have support from at least one victims’ group and the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board, an independent body which has done quite a bit to shape government thinking about this scandal. The scheme is called the Horizon Family Members Redress Scheme, and it is, according to the government “expected to open in summer 2026”. The Business Department says the scheme is “designed to be as accessible and straightforward as possible – minimising bureaucratic barriers so that families receive redress without delay.”…
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Parmod Kalia 1958 – 2026
Read More…: Parmod Kalia 1958 – 2026Parmod Kalia has died. He was 67. His family announced the news on Tuesday, saying “our beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle has passed away. He was a guiding light in our lives. His love, wisdom and warmth will stay with us always.” Parmod was one of the most decent men I have ever met. We first spoke in 2018 on the first day of Bates v Post Office at the High Court. This is how I described our meeting in my book: “Before the afternoon session started I spotted a small, middle-aged man who had been sitting on…
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Post Office and Fujitsu file their defence against Lee Castleton
Read More…: Post Office and Fujitsu file their defence against Lee CastletonThe Post Office and Fujitsu have finally filed a defence to former Subpostmaster Lee Castleton’s July 2025 claim against them at the High Court. It is a partial defence in the light of a recent judgment which ordered a split trial approach to the litigation (see here and below). Lee seeks the opportunity to pursue a claim against the Post Office for abuse of process over their High Court case against him in 2006/7 (Part B) and he wants the 2007 judgment to that case ruled to be obtained by fraud (Part C). In order to do that, the High…
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The Trials of Lee Castleton
Read More…: The Trials of Lee CastletonArcane legal argument aside it was a fairly straightforward day in court. Lee Castleton and his team wanted a trial of all the issues in his claim against the Post Office. The Post Office (and Fujitsu) argued it would be easier, quicker and cheaper to first see if Lee was still bound by the Bates v Post Office settlement agreement signed on Lee’s behalf by Alan Bates and Kay Linnell back in 2019, which stops him from pursuing any further legal action against the Post Office. This was the “split trial” argument and it won the day. The Post Office successfully persuaded…
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Lee Castleton’s case against the Post Office and Fujitsu
Read More…: Lee Castleton’s case against the Post Office and FujitsuThere are three documents of interest in this blog post. The first is a 41-page Particulars of Claim, filed on 10 July 2025 by former East Bridlington Subpostmaster Lee Castleton against the Post Office and Fujitsu. He is seeking a ruling that the 2007 judgment against him was obtained by fraud and £4m in damages. You can download that here: The next are relevant to the directions hearing about the above claim which took place at the Rolls Building on 21 Jan 2026. The first is the Claimant (Lee Castleton) skeleton argument, which you can download here: And this is…
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No action taken against Post Office barrister who broke the rules
Read More…: No action taken against Post Office barrister who broke the rulesSome of the Subpostmasters who had their convictions quashed at the Court of Appeal in 2021 have been sent a letter notifying them that Nick Vamos, a barrister working for Peters and Peters, the law firm acting on behalf of the Post Office, was “not authorised” to carry out the litigation he conducted. The letter, dated 28 November 2025, is sent by Master Alix Beldam KC, the judiciary’s Criminal Appeals Registrar. Master Beldam tells the recipients: “Your appeal against conviction as a result of a prosecution by the Post Office Limited was dealt with by the Court of Appeal (Criminal…
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Sir Alan Settles – for how much?!
Read More…: Sir Alan Settles – for how much?!On 23 October 2003, the North Wales Weekly News published a letter from Alan Bates, the sacked Postmaster at Craig-y-Don Post Office near Llandudno. In his letter, Alan railed against the behaviour of the Post Office, its Horizon computer system and apologised to his customers that their village branch had closed. “I can assure everyone I will not give up on this issue” said Alan, “whether it takes three months or three years.” It took 22 years. Today Sir Alan Bates settled his claim against the Post Office. Sir Alan refused his first compensation offer in January 2024, saying it…
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Restorative Justice Council Subpostmaster report pt 1 arrives
Read More…: Restorative Justice Council Subpostmaster report pt 1 arrivesIn July this year, as part of Volume 1 of his final report, the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry chair Sir Wyn Williams required Fujitsu, the government and the Post Office to deliver a report “outlining any agreed programme of restorative justice and/or actions taken by that date to produce such a programme.” The Post Office, the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and Fujitsu outsourced this work to the Restorative Justice Council (RJC) which, in September, set about interviewing as many Subpostmasters and their families as it could. The results can be read in: “Rebuilding Trust: The First Step Toward…
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Police spend £7.2m on PO investigation in 5 years, interviewing 4 people
Read More…: Police spend £7.2m on PO investigation in 5 years, interviewing 4 peopleThe police have spent £7,246,000 since 2020 investigating possible crimes committed by Post Office and Fujitsu execs relating to the Horizon scandal. In five years the detectives working for Operation Olympos have conducted a total of seven interviews with four people. No arrests have been made. The investigation began shortly after the judge in the Bates v Post Office high court litigation announced he had such “grave concern” at the evidence given by Fujitsu employees in criminal and civil cases against Subpostmasters, and he was passing a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions. This he did, and the DPP…
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Now at least thirteen suicides directly linked to Post Office Scandal
Read More…: Now at least thirteen suicides directly linked to Post Office ScandalPart one of Sir Wyn Williams’ report into the Post Office Horizon scandal has landed. He makes a total of nineteen recommendations, crunches a number of significant figures and as per the headline to this piece, reveals the number of lives lost as a direct result of this scandal. Dealing with the most significant statistic first, in March this year, Sir Wyn Williams asked the Post Office to tell him how many people they know appear to have taken their own lives “as a consequence of Horizon showing an illusory shortfall in branch accounts”. Williams asked the Post Office for…
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