23 minutes | Monday, 8 January 2024
More than 700 sub-postmasters were prosecuted between 1999 and 2015 in what's been deemed the biggest miscarriage of justice in British legal history. They were accused of theft, fraud and false accounting due to a faulty software system called Horizon. Many lost jobs, homes, faced court battles and some took their own lives. So far, fewer than 100 have had their convictions quashed. In 2023 an independent inquiry began, and the Horizon scandal story has been serialized in a TV drama on ITV, boosting renewed interest in their fight for justice. On the Sky New Daily, host Jonathan Samuels hears from three people who were portrayed in the ITV drama 'Mr Bates vs The Post Office', including former sub-postmaster Lee Castleton who had - within a year of owning his east Yorkshire post office - a computer system which showed around £25,000 in discrepancies. He was made to repay the money and pay costs of £321,000, which ended up bankrupting him. Jonathan also speaks to Lord James Arbuthnot, who has supported victims of the Horizon scandal in seeking justice, and journalist Rebecca Thomson who first reported on the scandal in 2009 writing for Computer Weekly magazine. Senior podcast producer: Annie JoycePodcast producer: Soila Apparicio Promotions producer: David Chipakupaku Editor: Paul Stanworth