Post Office justice delayed

More than four years after an independent judicial inquiry was announced into the Post Office Horizon scandal it is only now about to hear from the principal figures. Alan Bates, the former sub-postmaster who has led the campaign, will be giving evidence today while Lord Arbuthnot, who has done most among parliamentarians to highlight this injustice, will do so tomorrow. Paula Vennells, who was Post Office boss during the critical period, does not appear until next month, when three days have been set aside for her side of the story. 

Ms Vennells, who gave up her CBE after the ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office exposed an alleged cover up at the top of the institution, was seen for the first time in public at the weekend. She declined to answer a reporter’s question as to whether she had knowingly misled MPs when she appeared before a select committee looking into the scandal in 2015. Nadhim Zahawi, the Tory MP who was on that committee, said the Post Office should be investigated for corporate manslaughter following the suicides of at least four Horizon victims. We should not have to wait for the inquiry to conclude before senior executives and lawyers are called to account for their part in this outrage. 

The inquiry’s protracted nature is not entirely the fault of the judge Sir Wyn Williams since there was a Covid pandemic shortly after it was set up. But it is extraordinary that we are only now about to hear from the principal protagonists even though there has been a TV series, an announcement of legislation to clear those found guilty of stealing, and widespread public anger at what happened to decent people trying to eke out a living in their communities.