Alan Bates, the former sub-postmaster who led 555 victims prosecuted by the Post Office to the High Court, is to bring a private prosecution against its management if the police fail to bring criminal charges against those who knowingly hounded more than 700 sub-postmasters for more than a decade. Mr Bates was the main figure in the recent television drama on the worst large-scale miscarriage of justice in British history. He told The Times that the nation was angry and the victims were not prepared to allow those who ruined many people’s lives to go scot-free.
His comments come as hearings continue in the Horizon scandal, revealing the astonishing negligence, obstinacy and ignorance of those overseeing the prosecutions. Not only is it now clear that several senior managers were fully aware that the Fujitsu computer system controlling the Horizon programme was faulty, but Alan Cook, who oversaw 160 prosecutions during his four-year tenure as managing director, did not realise for more than three years that he was the head of a prosecuting authority that had the right to bring criminal cases without the involvement of the police or the director of public prosecutions. His regrets now may be heartfelt but they do not excuse the actions, verging on the malicious, of a public body determined to hound its employees. Adam Crozier, the former chief executive, did not recall any Post Office board oversight of the prosecutions.
The hearings will take testimony from all those who headed the Post Office, culminating in the tenure of Paula Vennells, whose dismal record is likely to add to the public anger over this scandal. What is extraordinary is that the inquiry has not said whether it will pass a file to the police or prosecutors despite the millions of documents it is now examining. The Metropolitan Police have set up their own inquiry into possible fraud but this is likely to take until at least 2026. Little wonder therefore that Mr Bates believes that dithering, complacency and obfuscation are likely to blunt public anger and allow lethargy to set in.
His threat to launch a private prosecution should at least galvanise the government not only into investigating those who appear to have committed perjury and fraud, including the executives from Fujitsu who knowingly misled the Post Office, but speeding up prosecutions and, most importantly, paying out the promised compensation. More than 250 postmasters have died without any redress. At least five have taken their own lives. The others are still labouring under the shame that so many felt for years without the exoneration of a mass pardon, a measure that may be legally awkward but is clearly deserved.
It is particularly infuriating that a giant company such as Fujitsu has hardly been held to account. Its other government contracts, even with the Post Office, have remained in place. There has been only a paltry apology. The Japanese head office has been blithely insouciant over what should be a disastrous blow to its vaunted global technological prowess. And although it must be forced to pay much of the £1 billion in promised compensation, there seems to be no lawsuit pending for fraud or malpractice. There are hopes of mediation further down the line.
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The hearings matter. They are a shameful record of how bureaucracy stifles inquiries, covers up incompetence and protects bad management. This was clear from the Letby murder inquiry. The Horizon hearings must be just as unsparing.
