Episode 4

BATES: The computer system Post Office spent an arm and a leg on is faulty.

♪ ♪ We're ready to mount and fund an independent review.

BOB: Angela, nice to meet you.

Here to help.

ZAHAWI: We are hearing from Bob that your organization has been obstructive to his independent work.

PAULA: This is about the reputation of the Post Office.

GINA: Every morning, going to work and saying he's desperate.

(crying): "I can't bear it."

Blood on their hands now.

PAULA: No mediation scheme has the power to overturn a criminal conviction.

You have broken your word to Parliament.

ROLL: They say there's no remote access, but they're lying.

HARTLEY: It may be possible to raise the money to fight them in court.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (talking in background) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ BATES: Hard to believe it's eight years since our first meeting.

Even harder to believe that, finally, 555 of us now, ready to tell our stories to a court.

That's all fine and dandy, Alan, but how are we going to pay for it?

BATES: Uh, well, James is the expert.

Uh, there are a few specialist funders who are prepared to take on this kind of risk.

If we win, we pay them back out of your compensation.

If we lose, please?

Well, then they lose, too-- their entire investment.

It is high-risk.

Win or lose, it costs a fortune.

And there's no guarantee we'll ever see a penny.

(murmuring) And I, I want to make it clear that there are a few other things this group litigation is not going to do for us.

I'm sorry, Jo.

Sorry, Noel.

But it's not going to overturn any criminal convictions.

It's not going to discharge anyone's bankruptcies.

(mutters): One day.

It's not going to, to get back any house repossessions.

And it's not going to repair anyone's shattered health.

Or bring back those we've lost.

NOEL: Well, also, I've got to say, there's a few of us here who've not much faith in the law, after everything that's happened.

(others murmuring) "Believe in British justice," that's what they say.

Well... (chuckles) I, I've told you all the things the law's not going to do for us, but I want you to think about what brought us together.

All those things that we've been fighting for ever since.

Compensation?

Bigger than that.

Justice?

Bigger.

The truth?

(chuckles): Exactly.

Yes, compensation.

Yes, justice, but...

Without the truth, we can't do either of those.

Going to law will force the Post Office to open their files so, finally, we'll get to know everything the Post Office knows.

The truth.

The whole truth.

All those in favor?

Motion carried.

(cheering and applauding) (applause grows louder, all cheering) PATRICK: Yes, it's true that the Post Office will now have to give us everything they've got, but it's also true that in fights like this, the side with more money usually wins.

Unless something extraordinary happens.

Our whole case is something extraordinary.

Yes, yes, it is.

I couldn't agree more, and what's very striking is how many people rang that helpline and were told, "You're the only one."

HARTLEY: Mm.

I asked to see if that phrase was in the helpline scripts, and the Post Office said, "There are no scripts."

Yeah, and anyone who's rung a helpline knows they parrot a script, so it's clearly a lie.

So, what happened to the principle of "give us everything you've got"?

Well, whatever we ask them to disclose, they either say the record doesn't exist or it's not relevant.

And whatever documents they do provide are often pretty much redacted to death.

Yes, I get the sense that none of this is coming as news to Mr. Bates.

Welcome to my world.

(chuckles) JO: The price of everything!

I went looking for a dress, but all I could afford is a scarf.

Yeah, love, love, listen to me, uh... Did your mum tell you that she had a doctor's appointment?

No.

She... Look, you'd better go and speak to her.

She's inside.

I got a new scarf, for the court hearing.

Do you want to see?

I'm sorry, love.

I know you don't need this.

Don't need what?

I got cancer, love.

In a place I didn't even know was a place.

Pancreas.

(sighs) (voice trembling): Does it hurt?

(exhales) Well... Oh, God!

The look on that doctor's face!

It was me offering him the Kleenex.

He wouldn't tell me how long I've got, but, well... (breathes deeply) Not long-- come on.

(crying) Don't you worry about me.

You've got your case to think about.

Oh, I don't care about any of that.

Promise me on my life you'll see it through.

Promise me, Jo, you won't rest... (crying): ...till the world sees the innocent babe I held in my arms.

I promise.

I promise, Mum.

(both crying softly) ♪ ♪ BATES: Sorry for your loss, Jo.

Five days we had together.

Five more days on this Earth and my lovely mum was gone.

You really didn't need to come today.

No, I made her a promise.

But she's not even buried yet, so don't ask me what just happened in there.

Well, there could be five separate trials, but they're going to make us wait another year before they even start the first one.

And you won't get called as a witness, Jo.

They won't call anyone who's got a criminal conviction.

Well, I'll still come every day to support you.

"Bates and Others vs. the Post Office."

I'll be "Others."

I, I told our lawyers, I said, "All right, "you can put my name on the tin if you want to, "but that doesn't mean you have to put me in the witness box.

Choose the best people."

Alan, you are the best people.

PATRICK: So, listen to this.

Three years ago, Paula Vennells wrote... PAULA: Is it possible to access the system remotely or not?

"We are told it is."

And Paula then asks her managers, "What is the true answer?

"I need to say, 'No, it is not possible,' "and that we are sure of this because of x, x, x. I need the facts."

Wow, okay.

That is an email of Paula's that arrived this morning in a disclosure bundle, and it wasn't even redacted.

Well, this is, this is fundamental.

If we can prove they had remote access to your computers, then, I mean, that means all the criminal convictions are unsafe.

I look forward to hearing you ask her about that in court, Patrick.

Unfortunately, the Post Office also sent across their final list of witnesses this morning, and Paula Vennells is not on it.

Ha!

Brilliant.

PATRICK: What?!

What's she worried about?

That is a very strange decision.

Who are they putting up instead?

Uh, the people services director, An... Angela van den Bogerd.

Yeah, she's had more job titles than hot dinners.

She's like a stick of Blackpool Rock with "Post Office" written all the way through.

And she's a hard-faced cow.

Excellent, why don't you tell us how you really feel about her?

(chuckles): Well, never mind.

No, Alan, wait, wait, wait, there is a possibility that Patrick can still question Angela on remote access-- uh, where is it?

This is from Angela's witness statement.

"Subpostmasters "are solely responsible for their branch accounts.

"There is no transaction that enters their accounts without their consent."

Well, that's just not true!

And we know a man who can prove it.

What, you've got a whistleblower?

ROLL: You'd be right inside, looking at some postmaster's screen.

You could tell if he was busy.

You could see him selling his stamps.

Remote access?

Sometimes.

Not often.

We'd go in using the postmaster's I.D.

Find the cause of his problems, fix it, come back out.

He'd never even know.

What, so it would look like, like he'd made the changes himself?

Yeah.

Richard, what if you couldn't fix it?

What if you couldn't find a cause?

ROLL (quietly): I don't know.

The postmaster took the blame?

I can't remember much detail.

And like I said to Alan, I'm not prepared to go to court or stick my neck out in any way whatsoever.

Sure-- sure.

BATES: No, no.

It's not just that Richard is too shy to give evidence.

He's got no evidence to give.

No documents, no email.

Alternatives?

No, we really need him.

He's still the only Fujitsu insider to ever come forward.

I meant ties.

Oh, uh... Oh, maroon or maroon, hm.

(chuckles) (exhales) SUZANNE: Oh, I'm, I'm not even going to ask.

One thing I took from the Select Committee is, it really helps to use your face.

You know, confused, skeptical, amused.

(both chuckle) SUZANNE: And that's your master plan for the group litigation-- make faces at the Post Office?

♪ ♪ 555 subpostmasters in our group, and I have to go on first.

BATES: I do solemnly and sincerely and truly declare and affirm that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

♪ ♪ Good morning, Mr. Bates.

♪ ♪ Mr. Bates, it would be right to say that in terms of due diligence, you are quite a careful man, is that fair?

You're a details man.

Yes.

At paragraph 15 of your witness statement, you refer to being sent an information sheet.

"The subpostmaster "is personally responsible "for all losses or gains incurred to Post Office cash or stock."

You were aware you would be responsible for that loss, however large it was.

At the time we took over the Post Office, losses weren't a major concern.

The original deficit of £1,182.

That is a staff error, isn't it?

No.

No, that was, uh, that was definitely Horizon.

(stammers): From my point of view, without a shadow of a doubt.

You got it in your mind it was Horizon, and forevermore it has been Horizon.

No.

Well, it jumped out.

The errors jumped out.

There couldn't have been anything else.

I put to you generally that the overwhelming likelihood is that these deficits were most likely caused by error or wrongdoing in your branch by you or your staff.

That is the Post Office case.

♪ ♪ FRASER: Mr. Bates?

That is being put to you so that you can tell me what the answer is.

No, My Lord.

No.

No further questions, thank you.

FRASER: Thank you, Mr. Bates, you are excused.

SUZANNE: A details man!

Might use that at home.

Alan did okay, I think?

I'm just so glad he went first.

(people talking softly in background) PAM: I took over Barkham Post Office when my husband died on the third of August 1999.

So, some 19-odd years ago.

Mm-hmm.

It is fair to say your memory of the details is probably pretty vague, is that fair?

No, I don't think so.

Not particularly stunning events, are they?

Like a car crash or something-- is that fair?

(people murmuring) PAM: If you are talking about August 1999, then, yes, they are very similar to a car crash.

You are talking about your husband's death.

(whispers): Yes.

Yes, I, I accept that.

Moving, then, forward to your suspension following the £18,000-odd deficit found on the audit.

Well, I was staggered that I was suspended.

Absolutely staggered.

I was probably as angry and upset as I have ever been in my life.

Because for the last six months, I had been asking Post Office to help me find the source for these alleged shortfalls, in order that I could... How can I put it?

That it would stop me from bombarding them with phone calls.

Letters.

A lot of people might think, well, I've received this letter, let's look at my contract.

Let's look at section 19, paragraph four, and see whether they are entitled to.

Well, I couldn't do that.

I had no entry to my post office from the day they did the closing audit.

They took the keys away and locked them up.

But my point is, you immediately blame it on Horizon without really casting your mind as to other possibilities.

I dispute that completely!

(people murmuring) I never used to be an angry person.

And it really works, doesn't it?

I wouldn't know, I don't get angry.

Oh, well, then, I should give it a go, Alan.

Otherwise, the stress of all this might end up killing you.

(Bates chuckles) Well, the Post Office chose three witnesses and we chose three witnesses.

The Post Office has read 555 postmasters' statements.

Why they choose me?

(softly): So, they chose Mohammad Sabir because he has an accountancy qualification.

So, just watch them try to make him look stupid, as well as dishonest.

WENTWORTH: Do you accept from me that being involved over a period of years as an assistant accountant means that, that I can consider you as not commercially naive?

I did not understand your question, please?

Rephrase it, Mr. Wentworth.

As at the time you applied to Post Office, yes?

You were not commercially naive.

My Lord, English is not my first language.

You had experience of commercial things.

You weren't... (chuckles): It's put me on the spot trying to rephrase this.

At that time, I was just thinking to buy the business, run it, make my life better, and serve the community.

This was my main ambition.

So if I am clear, honest, so I don't be afraid of signing any contract with anybody, assuming that they are doing everything for goodness of me, and I had already positive thinking about this.

WENTWORTH: Okay, I think you would agree that a deficit of £4,878 is a serious matter.

Do you agree with that?

SABIR: No, I disagree.

I told them everything, what was the problem.

Have you read all the documents which I submitted?

I rang the Post Office helpline.

"Please, can somebody ring me, or come to my office and resolve this problem?"

But they said, "We don't believe you, we have to suspend you."

I never thought that I would lose everything when I would be working in the Post Office!

♪ ♪ SABIR: We are supposed to be the most civilized country.

We don't expect anyone to behave like the Post Office does.

Why they do this?

Well, that's the million-dollar question.

The QC was very clever, pick, pick, picking away at stuff.

You did everything right, Mohammad.

You told the truth and that's all that matters.

Truth is truth.

Truth is truth.

Can't hide it.

(people talking in background) Well, that was brilliant.

They chose him and he smashed them.

Just a pile of ash where the Post Office used to be.

Well, we've got Angela van den Bogerd in the witness box tomorrow.

Yep.

You get to ask the questions.

I do.

And I've got plenty.

And we get to see if we picked the right man for the job.

(both chuckle) PATRICK: Miss van den Bogerd, if we could please look at document G43/1.

So this is co-authored by you.

"Horizon Help has, since its introduction over a decade ago, "fallen short of delivering the functionality "that was promised as part of Horizon rollout and that postmasters and their assistants desperately need."

(softly): Yes.

That is an honest and candid internal recognition of the situation, isn't it?

There were shortcomings in the user experience.

It's... (exhales) It's clunky, would be the word I would use.

(people murmuring in background) Clunky?

Mm-hmm.

Right, so, why don't you mention this in your witness statement?

(stammering): I don't...

I suppose the length of my witness statement, um...

It's so long anyway, that... FRASER: Was it your understanding that there was a restriction on the length of your witness statement?

The witness statement in itself is quite lengthy anyway, and so...

I suppose it was just myself.

Mr. Green.

If we could go, please, to document G38/2.

It says 30th of January 2015.

Mrs. Vennells asks, "Is it possible to access the system remotely?

"I need to say, 'No, it is not possible,' and that we are sure of this."

So, in 2015, it would be wrong to say, wouldn't it, that Post Office couldn't remotely access Horizon data?

Post Office can't.

Could it do it through Fujitsu?

♪ ♪ Through Fujitsu... (softly): Yes, it can.

(people murmuring in background) (softly): Yes.

You're going to have to keep your voice up, I'm afraid.

(softly): I'm sorry.

(more loudly): Sorry.

I suggest you are hesitant to accept anything that is damaging to Post Office.

That is not the case.

Do you feel pressure to protect the Post Office brand now?

At this particular moment?

Yes.

No.

FRASER: Can I just ask one simple question?

What exactly does "protecting a brand" mean?

It, it just means that, um... One is, it's making sure that how we do things, how we behave, how we interact with people... And it's...

It's just making sure that at all times, we are maintaining that.

(people murmuring) ♪ ♪ (bell chiming, fireworks exploding on TV) SUZANNE: Made it past midnight.

That's pretty good for me.

(chuckles) All the meetings with MPs, letters to the minister-- more ministers than you can shake a stick at.

(chuckles): Years and years.

Still, nobody in power hears a word we say.

What's brought this on?

New Year's Honors List.

For God's sake!

Come on, turn it off, details man-- come to bed.

Paula Vennells has got the CBE.

Joking!

(button clicks) BATES: "Services to the Post Office."

(gasps) Always another trick up their sleeves.

(sighs) (chuckles) I'll see you up there.

♪ ♪ (exhales) The Post Office now admit they do have remote access, but they insist it could never happen without the knowledge and permission of the subpostmaster.

Well, they're wrong-- of course, they are.

But it's 15 years ago-- more.

I can't remember the details.

I can't help you, Alan-- there must be someone else.

It's not that bad, honestly.

There'll be loads of other witnesses.

I wasn't senior, Alan, not at all.

And my girlfriend really doesn't want me drawing attention to myself.

You just have to talk to the judge.

Ignore everyone else.

You can really help us out here, Richard, and still be home for your tea.

I'll only disappoint you.

You'll be fine.

BOB: Jo?

JO: Bob!

What are you doing here?

Ah, I wouldn't miss this for the world.

Fujitsu technical support giving evidence under oath.

The guy's quite shy.

Alan's worried about him.

A real live whistleblower-- it's going to be dynamite, kid!

Mm... WENTWORTH: Mr.

Roll, would you accept that your recollection of your time at Fujitsu is hazy?

It is quite hazy.

It could just be my perception of events from, uh, 15, 17 years ago.

So you are not saying that you were routinely encountering coding issues, are you?

Bugs?

No, no.

You don't recall ever having encountered a, a bug that definitely caused a financial impact?

I don't recall discovering one.

No.

I'm going to move on to remote access now, Mr.

Roll.

My suggestion to you will be that you never, and would never, manually change a transaction line of data that a postmaster had keyed in.

No.

That is something we did, as far as I remember it.

But, ultimately, the subpostmaster would be able to see what Fujitsu had done.

Is that true?

Again, my understanding is that, in certain circumstances, the data would be indist... Um... Indistinguishable?

Yes.

Is that what you're trying to say?

Yes, My Lord.

You couldn't tell the difference?

(stammering): No, you, you couldn't tell the difference.

(people murmuring) Remote access to the Horizon system at branch level was extensive.

We had the ability to change data and change transaction information, even while the postmaster was working.

Without the postmaster being aware?

Yes, that is my understanding.

FRASER: Your understanding?

No.

My recollection.

(panting) BOB: Thought he was great in the end.

I wonder if it's enough.

I asked you a question, Bob.

Years ago, when we first met.

"Bob, where did all the money go?"

£36,000 they took off me.

Yeah, I think-- and I can't prove it, Jo, not yet, but I will-- that the money you gave them, that they claimed you owed them, hung around in some sort of suspense account for a while, while they failed to investigate.

And after a couple of years, your money, everyone's money, it just showed up in their profits.

My £36,000, that I didn't steal, that they actually stole off me to pay off a debt that never existed, is in the Post Office profits.

I just...

I mean, are they just incompetent, Alan?

Or just evil?

Eh, well, you know, it comes to the same thing, in the end.

Another one?

Please.

Definitely.

FRASER: The Post Office describes itself on its own website as "the nation's most trusted brand."

Well, as far as these claimants are concerned, this might be thought to be wholly wishful thinking.

(chuckling) The Post Office witnesses give me the impression that they simply cannot allow themselves to consider the possibility that the Post Office may be wrong, as the consequences of doing so are too significant to contemplate.

Angela van den Bogerd did not always give me frank evidence.

She sought to mislead me.

Her judgment also seemed to be uniquely exercised to paint the Post Office in the most favorable light possible, regardless of the facts.

Mr. Bates seemed to me to offer his evidence honestly and... BATES (over phone): "...has proved himself to be "unreasonable, stubborn, and a considerable irritant to the Post Office."

He's got you to a tee.

(chuckling): Yeah, yeah.

And the Post Office, too.

Uh, "oppressive," "unfair," "excessive secrecy," and, well, 180,000 other words just the same.

(giggles) Sorry.

Um, we've got to get back into court now.

Why?

Something's come up.

Hold on, love.

FRASER: I just saw this five minutes ago.

It's an application for me to recuse myself as being the managing judge in these proceedings.

Mr. Wentworth, would you care to elaborate?

(whispering): The Post Office has asked the judge to sack himself on the grounds that he's clearly biased against the Post Office.

Amazing.

It's just the best day ever.

It's like a gift from heaven.

Proof they're desperate.

Absolutely-- I mean, in my world, Alan, the most catastrophic mistake you can make is to make unfounded allegations of bias against the judge.

I mean, you just don't, you, I've never even hea...

They're idiots.

I bet it wasn't the lawyers who decided to do this.

I bet it came from the Post Office boardroom.

Yeah, well, to be a fly on the wall, eh?

Well, we're winning.

Well, yes, but... Oh, I should have known there was a "but" coming over the hill.

Well, the trial stops now.

There'll be weeks-- well, months-- of arguments to follow.

On whether we need a new judge.

Um, it's a delay the Post Office can afford.

But we can't.

That's why they're doing this.

To make us run out of money.

Alan... We have run out of money.

♪ ♪ No.

No, no, we... We can't stop now.

No one's talking about stopping.

Not at all.

But...

It is time to start... (inhales deeply) ...negotiating a settlement.

(chuckles) I think you're forgetting, I, I've negotiated with this mob before, and people have died.

Well, people are still dying.

You know this, all right, but nobody else does.

There's millions of people out there who, who've never heard of us.

Who don't know about the suicides and the, the ruined lives.

God knows how many victims who are, who are still too scared to come forward.

(laughs): I, I haven't spent 20 years battling these bastards to pack up now and give the Post Office license to start running amok and destroying lives.

Again!

Well... Well, I, I've said enough.

We have to win.

PATRICK: Alan.

We just did.

♪ ♪ This is what winning looks like.

You're talking as though this is a defeat, and it's, it's really not-- this is just what happens towards the end of any litigation.

We, we get around a table.

And if we don't, and we lose in that arena, we lose everything we've achieved so far.

And the clock sets back to zero.

So, it's about knowing when to stop and when to negotiate.

So, that's it, give up now?

(stammers): No, no, we settle.

Same thing.

(door closes) ♪ ♪ FOSTER: Mrs. Vennells?

Paula Vennells?

Yes?

(car alarm chirps) Ned Foster, "Daily Mail."

Oh, I... Would you like to say anything to the postmasters who've been through such a long legal battle?

No.

I, I really find this unacceptable.

Would you like to apologize to them?

Will you just... Go away.

FOSTER: So, you won't apologize to them?

No, please, go away.

Well, can I confirm, then, Mrs. Vennells, you're saying you will not apologize to the postmasters, after everything that they've been through?

RADIO ANNOUNCER: After an epic legal battle, during which the Post Office tried and failed to remove the judge, the subpostmasters have won on almost every count.

Their victory comes with a compensation package worth £58 million.

Well, you took them on, and you won.

And I cannot overstate enough quite the scale of this achievement.

It is more than we could have ever have dreamed of from the beginning.

It is an absolutely astonishing victory.

In my professional career, I have never seen anything quite like this, so... (applauding) Having, having said that, I, I do need to make you, uh, aware that, um, inevitably, uh, there are legal fees and court costs and our obligations to our funders that will eat in to that total.

(voice quavering): So, um... Yeah, uh, the amount that will be left after that to, um... (stammering) ...divide amongst yourselves as compensation will be in the region of, um, £12 million.

(murmuring) Wait, £12 million between 555?

That, that... That, that's what?

What, 20, 20 grand each?

On, on average, yes.

£20,000?

That, that, that... That won't touch the sides of what we've lost.

PATRICK: Listen, I understand.

But what you must remember is that today's settlement opens a, a lot of doors.

So that people with convictions can now use these judgments to help with their appeals going forward forever.

So... MAN: But what about us?

(talking at once) BATES: But what this also means is that those subpostmasters who've been too scared to come forward up to now will be able to do so without fear.

Friends... We did talk this over and over again, and we knew we might not see a penny.

But we decided, we voted, to go ahead.

They got paid, right?

(others murmuring) (voices rising) Excuse me-- excuse me.

(arguments continue) (raising voice): Excuse me!

(arguments stop) I've been in court every single day, and I saw us with my own eyes winning the most massive victory.

And that's all down to Alan and James and Patrick and their hard work, so could you just all stop it?

(laughs) (conversations resume softly) (doors open) It's never going to end, is it?

♪ ♪ (sighs) BATES: I wouldn't mind, but our legal team worked for free a lot of the time, and none of them, not even the funders, took anything like the fees they were due.

Well, anyway, it's not about money, is it?

Well, it is, partly.

(chuckles): Mostly.

You know what I mean.

You won, Alan.

You set out to prove Horizon is faulty, and you did it.

You won.

But everyone is still skint.

Alan... Lee, I want to... We're not attacking you, Alan.

Everyone can see you did your best.

And thank you.

I mean that.

Don't listen to the angry people.

They're upset, tired.

I know.

(chuckles): It's all right.

Just remember, we'd be nowhere without you, Mr. Bates.

(chuckles) You're a, a legend.

(chuckles) There from the beginning, and you never wavered.

Never.

Not for all those long years.

Just been a tower of strength and new ideas.

Ooh, am I embarrassing you?

(both chuckle) Listen.

Jo... All this evidence the litigation has dug up, you know, all the secrets coming out of the woodwork... Well, we got to the truth.

It belongs to us now.

Use it-- prove your innocence.

Go to the Court of Appeal and show the world what a miscarriage of justice really looks like.

(laughs): All right, Alan.

♪ ♪ But what are you going to do?

Oh, uh...

There's a pint of beer in Wales with my name on it.

(chuckles) (exhales) I think people are bitter.

They're angry.

And I get it, I do.

I'm bitter, I'm angry.

And I care about the money.

Of course, I do.

I care about the home we should have had, the life we could have had, and...

But I care about justice, too.

And you-- I care about you.

So don't you dare go blaming yourself.

I don't.

(chuckles) Mm.

You have absolutely nothing to blame yourself for.

And that's why I don't blame myself.

Come on, let's get home.

BATES: I suppose I've, I've never seen the point of getting angry, Suzanne.

I, I treat it like a job, you know?

It's something I lift off the shelf and then put back after.

SUZANNE: Yeah, funnily enough, I don't really remember that part, the putting it back on the shelf part.

All the seven-days-a-week, 365-days-a-year parts.

(both laugh) And also, Alan, jobs are things that people are paid to do.

Yes, something went a bit wrong there.

(chuckling) You're not actually giving up at all, are you?

Well...

There's the small matter of every one of the 555 getting their money back.

And then there's the small matter of the right people holding up their hands to take the blame.

Paula Vennells?

The British government.

Why?

Well, because the government is the one and only owner of the good ship Post Office, which doesn't have a penny in its coffers owing to the fact it's spent it all fighting us.

All of which means that, in the end, Her Majesty's Government is going to have to hold up its hands, accept responsibility for this fiasco, and pay us the compensation we deserve.

Well, when people say "the government," they really mean "taxpayer," but nobody would begrudge you.

We established the truth in a court of law, James.

And now I'm focusing on the 555 who need their lives putting back together.

You don't give up, do you, you awkward sod?

Well, someone's got to be.

Alan, cast your mind back, if you will, to the summer of 2013.

Uh, Bob was doing his review.

And you were fighting me every inch of the way.

I was right, though.

ARBUTHNOT: And at the same time, the Post Office, in secret and at the highest level, were commissioning independent legal advice.

This lawyer's report establishes beyond doubt that the Post Office lied to and were in contempt of Parliament.

You were right.

BOB: It also proves that all the time we were wading through treacle trying to investigate, senior Post Office executives were shredding documents and failing to disclose that they knew there were unsafe convictions.

Did, did Paula know?

ARBUTHNOT: It's not possible to say with any certainty.

PAULA: I want to say that I'm deeply sorry for those subpostmasters who have suffered.

I have read many of their stories, and they are harrowing.

They are with me every day.

I was and remain deeply disturbed by what has come to light.

It is contrary to what I believed through my time as C.E.O.

of Post Office, between 2012 and 2019.

I wish to state for the record that I do not accept any personal criminal misconduct.

♪ ♪ WOMEN: Morning, Jo.

WOMAN 1: Good luck.

Oh, thank you.

HOLROYDE: This judgment concerns 42 men and women who were all prosecuted by their employer and convicted of crimes of dishonesty.

Josephine Hamilton pleaded guilty to 14 counts of false accounting.

There was no examination of the data for bugs, errors, or defects.

There was no proof of an actual loss, as opposed to an Horizon- generated shortage.

Even more alarming, Post Office Limited's own investigator had reported there was no evidence of theft.

We conclude Mrs. Hamilton's prosecution was unfair and an affront to justice.

(breath trembling, others murmuring) We allow her appeal.

We quash her convictions.

Notwithstanding his guilty plea, Noel Thomas's conviction is unsafe.

(others murmuring) We allow his appeal.

His prosecution was unfair and an affront to justice.

In the case of Susan Rudkin, we allow her appeal.

Her conviction is unsafe.

Very sadly, three of the applicants, Julian Wilson, Peter Holmes, and Donald Connor, have not lived to see the outcome of their appeals.

(cheering and applauding) REPORTER (on TV): Should the Post Office bosses go to prison, too?

LEE: Come on, Noel.

NOEL: No, no, no.

I've been to jail.

I know what it's like.

It doesn't do any good.

Hit them in their pockets.

Take their money off them.

(voice trembling): It's the only language they'll understand!

BATES: Good lad.

On you go.

You should have gone down for these appeals.

It's not about me, is it?

(cheers and applause continue) Where's Jo?

There she is.

REPORTER: Jo, do you think the Post Office should pay?

Oh, I don't know.

Um, we've waited so long for this day, and some of us didn't make it-- people have died, you know.

And all we ever wanted was for the truth to come out and for someone to listen.

It didn't have to be like this.

All these good people, their lives in ruins.

I mean, look at us.

Do we look like criminals?

(cheering and applauding) Bob!

(laughing) Bob!

Congratulations, Jo.

Not just unfair, but look at this: "an affront to justice."

That's, like, twice as bad.

No, that's 100 times as bad.

Oh, you were like lambs to the slaughter, and they were villains and idiots.

(applauding and cheering) Hey, you.

If you make me cry, you're a bad man.

Josephine Hamilton and Others vs. the Post Office!

Look, Alan!

Look what we did!

Look what you did!

(applause and cheers continue) Come on!

Yes!

Yes!

(cheering, applauding, whistling) ♪ ♪ ARBUTHNOT: It's jaw-droppingly significant.

The judges have not only ruled that Jo and the others were wrongfully convicted, but even worse, that the Post Office decision to prosecute them was so wrong that it amounts to an affront to the conscience of the court.

This has to be the widest miscarriage of justice in British legal history.

(cheering) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (TV turns off) (exhales) I know what you're thinking.

Well, it's not over, is it?

How about we just allow ourselves to enjoy it?

Okay.

(chuckles) (computer keys clacking) SUZANNE: Alan?

Uh, just one email.

Minister of Postal Affairs.

Re: legal costs for our 555 claimants.

Total now due £46,843,853.

Plus another month's interest at eight percent.

It mounts up.

On what planet is the government going to pay our legal costs?

They'll have to.

They own the Post Office, sole shareholder.

The only one.

The only one awkward enough to sit at his computer making trouble for 20 years.

20 years so far.

Just think of it as a hobby that got out of hand.

(both laughing) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ANNOUNCER: Visit our website for videos, newsletters, podcasts, and more.

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♪ ♪