Hello again

Apologies – I feel a bit sheepish writing this because it’s been so long since I last wrote. I am sorry it’s taken so long to put together a simple email, but…

… it turns out writing a book is quite tough, because every second you are not writing a book, you should be.

Furthermore, when lots of people have already paid for the book you haven’t yet written, it rather focuses the mind.

Tell us more about the book, Nick…

My deadline was the end of this month, and whilst I have in no way finished, I have written to the end. Now I need to go back and edit, and re-write, and re-edit, and add some more new stuff, and then re-edit, and then sent that edit to an actual editor, who will hate it, and require me to re-edit and re-write it until it is readable, and then it will get sent to a lawyer who will remove loads of it, and then we will fight about what she has removed, and then the publisher will get involved and then, and then, and then…

But! I have at least reached a milestone of sorts, and I thought this would be an opportunity to give you a heads up on Post Office Horizon IT Scandal Related Stuff. It is also an opportunity to thank everyone who has joined this mailing list after buying a pre-sale copy of said book, which you will hopefully be pleased/relieved to know does actually exist.

Oh go on, sell us something…

If, for some reason, you are a recipient of this email and you have no idea I am publishing a book about the scandal, you can buy it here. I would be so grateful for every single pre-sale I can get, so please do feel free to forward this link (or this email) to anyone you think might be interested. I am absolutely delighted my publisher has so kindly decided to give 10% of the revenue (not profit, revenue) for every single book sold to a fund I am going to set up to help Subpostmasters who have suffered at the hands of the Post Office.

Info on the scandal

Whilst I have been quiet, Tony Collins has written quite a bit. Tony commissioned the first investigation into this scandal and he is still writing incredible articles. This is an important example:

Government inquiry into Post Office IT scandal a stitch-up?

It sets up the current situation. The government has made the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry statutory. Alan Bates (who, let’s face it, is the Justice For Subpostmasters Alliance) has said he won’t engage if the inquiry does not consider compensation for the 555 Subpostmasters in the group litigation.

The JFSA dragged the awfulness of the Post Office’s behaviour into public view, but the costs attached meant that the claimants lost £46m from the £57.75m they were given. Curiously both Bates AND the CEO of the Post Office have agreed the settlement is not fit for purpose, and have called on the government to settle it fairly.

Alan has told JFSA members that even tho it is statutory, . Sir Wyn Williams inquiry still is not fit for purpose. In a recent circular, he said:

“The key problem i.e. the matter of financial redress for the group is still excluded, and with that exclusion in place there is absolutely no benefit to the group in taking part.”

400 payments to claimants to the HSS

Computer Weekly recently reported that 400 payments had been made to applicants to the Historical Shortfall Scheme. This scheme excludes the 555 civil litigant applicants and anyone with a criminal conviction. No one (and I am in touch with a reasonable number of people) knows anyone who got a payment. I asked the Post Office to provide me with the details of one person who had received a payment and who was willing to be interviewed. I also asked them if they could give me the range of payments (eg £5 to £500,000) and what my daughter tells me is the mode – what payments most people have received.

The Post Office declined to give me this information.

The Great Post Office Trial

I am delighted to tell you that the BBC has finally decided to make The Great Post Office Trial downloadable on every podcast platform worldwide. To mark this, Whistledown Productions have produced extended versions of the BBC Sounds series, with longer episodes than were heard on Radio 4 this and last year. If you want to hear what Sir Anthony Hooper (chair of the complaint and mediation scheme working group) has to say about the way the Post Office went about its prosecutions, dive into Apple Music, Spotify or whoever supplies you with podcasts. You will now find longer versions of The Great Post Office Trial, with Added Things from Important People. Google it, or search for it on your preferred platform and please tell anyone you think might be interested.

Paul Marshall’s speech

Paul Marshall’s speech to students at the University of Law in London has now become the most read piece on the www.postofficetrial.com website. There is good reason – it is the most forensic, and human dissection of the entire Post Office Scandal I have read by anyone – be they journalist, campaigner or lawyer.

Mr Marshall, and his junior, Flora Page, were instrumental in persuading first their fellow barristers, and then the Court of Appeal, that the Post Office’s prosecutions were an affront to the public conscience (something the CCRC had contended in March 2020).

Mr Marshall’s speech is lawyerly, and informative and more than anything, it is profoundly moving. If you want a primer on the scandal from Horizon’s misconceived origins in 1996 to the present day, it’s worth a read.

Apologies for the irregularity

I am still working quite hard on the book so I won’t necessarily be posting that regularly, but I am still grateful for all your correspondence. It means a lot and I hope to respond to every email I get, the moment I can.

Take care

Nick