The Real Story Behind the Series

[DanaK]

The real story behind the series and what happened then and what’s going on now. Feel free to ask questions on who, what, where and feel free to answer on what you know and post articles. Yes, this is a true story that’s been going on for a decade or more and it’s very frustrating in so many ways

Be aware there will be spoilers for what’s happening in the show. 

Article that provides background info https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/mr-bates-vs-the-post-office-gwyneth-hughes-true-story-pbs-1235958210/

[DanaK]

BBC article from 2022 about the govt inquiry that was started up to look at the scandal https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60374182

Private Eye report, date uncertain https://www.private-eye.co.uk/pictures/special_reports/justice-lost-in-the-post.pdf

The Guardian, 2 years ago https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/15/post-office-scandal-workers-computer-system

[DanaK]

From what I’ve read on another board, this scandal had been going on for at least a decade with accused people trying to get justice, a lot of investigative reporting going on and government ministers ignoring the problem and then a TV series about it is a big hit and then people in government have a fire lit under their butts to do something about it

Edited April 8 by DanaK

[DanaK]

Alan Bates testifies at Horizon inquiry

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2024/apr/09/sunak-starmer-bates-horizon-post-office-rachel-reeves-cameron-conservatives-labour-uk-politics-live

[DanaK]

Mr. Bates considers private prosecutions for Post Office officials

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-68805556

[merylinkid]

GOOD.   Turnabout is fair play.

Seriously no one thought it odd that the organization brought private prosecutions for theft when those they accused said it was the post office's software.   Like, the barristers?   Not a single one went "they all were told they were the only one having problems, but that's clearly not the case based on the number of prosecutions."

[DanaK]

The Guardian: The Post Office inquiry is finally exposing the part the politicians played in the Horizon scandal

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/15/post-office-inquiry-politicians-horizon-scandal-government-profits?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=twt_gu&utm_medium&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1713190201

[DanaK]

Director behind hit series says it shouldn’t be a unicorn as he urges mechanism for broadcasters to tell campaign stories

https://deadline.com/2024/04/post-office-drama-james-strong-creative-cities-convention-1235892656/

[fastiller]

There is a petition urging prosecution of Vennells and others implicated in the scandal.

 

[AZChristian]

And the Archbishop of Canterbury needs to yank that dog collar off her neck.

[12catcrazy]

4 hours ago, AZChristian said:

And the Archbishop of Canterbury needs to yank that dog collar off her neck.

One of the things that really got me was how this person was supposed to be a woman of the cloth yet in some way rationalized that it was okay what happened to the unfairly accused post-masters.  People lost everything they had - including their good names and reputations - yet she went along with it.  

The whole damn bunch of the upper echelon of the post office should be sued over this terrible miscarriage of justice. 

[merylinkid]

8 hours ago, AZChristian said:

And the Archbishop of Canterbury needs to yank that dog collar off her neck.

To sit there with the collar on her neck and say "I take no personal responsibility."   Kinda misses the whole point.   I believe she got an OBE too which needs to be stripped.

[Driad]

Timeline of the Post Office scandal

[AZChristian]

1 hour ago, merylinkid said:

To sit there with the collar on her neck and say "I take no personal responsibility."   Kinda misses the whole point.   I believe she got an OBE too which needs to be stripped.

She was stripped of the CBE in February of this year.

[12catcrazy]

On 4/30/2024 at 9:15 PM, AZChristian said:

She was stripped of the CBE in February of this year.

I don't think she was "stripped" - I think she handed it back on her own. 

[AZChristian]

2 minutes ago, 12catcrazy said:

I don't think she was "stripped" - I think she handed it back on her own. 

She "planned" to give it back, but - just like managing the Post Office - never got around to it.  According to The Guardian (February 2024):

The former Post Office boss Paula Vennells has forfeited her CBE for “bringing the honours system into disrepute” over her handling of the Horizon crisis.

Vennells was named on Friday in a list published on the Cabinet Office website as an individual whose honour had been revoked by King Charles.

Issuing an apology last month, Vennells announced that she planned to hand back her CBE “with immediate effect” after a fresh fallout over the Horizon IT scandal, which led to the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of post office operators.

Later in the article, it states "While an individual can signal they want to renounce their honour, the only person who can sign off on the forfeit is the monarch."