Bates pledges to fundraise to jail PO bosses

Horizon campaigner vows to bring private prosecutions if inquiry fails sub-postmasters

Tim Sigsworth

ALAN BATES said he will fundraise to put Post Office bosses behind bars if sub-postmasters are “failed” by the inquiry into the Horizon scandal.

The former sub-postmaster led colleagues to a High Court victory against the organisation in 2019.

Mr Bates said he was “certain” he will be able to raise the money to pursue private prosecutions if necessary.

“In so many other scandals, the people who make decisions and ruin numerous lives walk away scot-free. We are not prepared to do that,” he told

The public inquiry is examining the scandal that resulted in more than 900 sub-postmasters being wrongfully prosecuted as a result of fictional shortfalls produced by faulty Horizon software. Yesterday, it was heard that Paula Vennells, the former Post Office chief executive, “likely” signed off a trial bill of more than £300,000 after a sub-postmaster was blamed for a £25,000 shortfall at his branch.

Lee Castleton, 55, who was played by actor Will Mellor in the ITV drama

was forced to declare bankruptcy in 2007 after the Post Office pursued him through the civil courts.

Alan Cook, former Post Office managing director, told the public inquiry how Ms Vennells “likely” signed off the legal budget. Questioning Mr Cook on the £300,000 spent, inquiry chairman Sir Wynn Williams said: “What I want to ask you is, what was the process back in 2006 for authorising the expenditure of those sums of money in the Post Office?”

As part of his response, Mr Cook said: “We had delegated authorities in place that would allow people below me, that would have probably lied [sic] with Paula Vennells as the network director, would have been able to sign that off.”

Clarifying, Sir Wyn then asked: “So what it amounts to is there would have been a person within the Post Office organisation who would have authority to sign off spending the money without talking either to you or to the board?” “Correct,” responded Mr Cook.

The inquiry chairman continued: “So did you tell me the most likely person was Paula Vennells?”

Mr Cook replied: “Yes, I think so.” At another point during his evidence Mr Cook, who held the managing director role from 2006 to the early part of 2010, was also shown an email in which he blamed sub-postmatsters with their “hand in the till” for shortfalls.

In an email sent in October 2009 to Mary Fagan, former corporate affairs director of the Royal Mail, Mr Cook said: “My instincts tell me that, in a recession, subbies with their hand in the till choose to blame the technology when they are found to be short of cash.”

The pair were discussing increasing press interest about concerns on the accuracy of Horizon. Asked why it was his instinct to think that sub-postmasters were stealing, Mr Cook told the inquiry: “Well that was an expression I will regret for the rest of my life.

“It is an inappropriate thing to put in an email, not in line with my view of sub-postmasters.”

Mr Cook’s evidence was followed by that of ex-Royal Mail chief executive Adam Crozier, who is now chairman of the BT Group.

Mr Crozier left Royal Mail Group in 2010 after seven years as its chief executive. Mr Crozier and Mr Cook both offered apologies to post-masters and their families affected by the scandal.

However, the former executives also both appeared to claim they did not initially know the organisations they presided over brought prosecutions against sub-postmasters. Mr Cook, who said he only came to realise this in 2009 – after he saw an article about Horizon victims in – described his lack of knowledge on the subject as a “regret”, saying he had “never come across a situation before that a trading entity could initiate criminal prosecutions themselves”.

Questioning Mr Crozier, Jason Beer KC, lead counsel to the inquiry asked: “Were you not aware that in fact there was no Post Office legal team – it had no separate legal in-house function and that civil and criminal proceedings were brought by lawyers within the Royal Mail Group legal team?” Mr Crozier said: “I was not, no.” Lawyers for Ms Vennells previously released a statement on her behalf that said she was “truly sorry for the devastation caused to the sub-postmasters and their families, whose lives were torn apart as a result of the Horizon system”.

The inquiry continues.

Adam Crozier, former chief executive of Royal Mail Group, said he was unaware the Post Office brought its own prosecutions