Post Office inquiry ends for ‘superfans’ gripped by the scandal

Folks with no connection to the Put up Workplace have informed the PJDM how they turned engrossed watching the general public inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal.

It turned virtually field workplace viewing – racking up greater than 20 million views on YouTube – largely helped by the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Put up Workplace which introduced the scandal to wider public consideration.

It was a story of unusual individuals going about their working lives who had been victims of a defective IT system, with catastrophic penalties. Some had been financially ruined, others went to jail. Some died whereas ready for justice.

The sub-postmasters’ plight struck a chord with many, and a few “superfans” avidly adopted each step of the inquiry, each on-line and in particular person.

These “superfans” informed the PJDM what it was that gripped them and what they hope for now that the inquiry has come to an finish, after 225 days of hearings involving 298 witnesses.

Anthony Abdool thinks he is one of many few “superfans” who hasn’t seen the ITV drama. As a substitute, he heard in regards to the scandal on the information and would watch the inquiry on-line at house, discovering it “profoundly transferring and outrageous”.

“The extra they acquired into it, the extra outraged I turned,” Anthony says.

That is when he determined to attend and took day off work to go. Anthony, who’s a contract promoting copywriter, says he was “very fortunate” his boss let him take a complete of 9 days as paid go away.

His colleagues had been additionally supportive of his determination to attend and recurrently requested him for updates.

“I feel that displays the broader significance that folks connect to the inquiry and I can not consider something I have been inquisitive about that united the general public in such a means.”

Anthony would put up on X whereas on the inquiry and made pals on-line with others within the story. He says he’ll have an interest to see in the event that they wish to keep “Twitter mates or if we have reached the tip of our journey”.

And now that the inquiry is over, he says: “Nicely, I am going to have to return to work!”

Isabella Thomas, 19, attended the inquiry for every week of labor expertise over the summer time.

“I used to be really humbled to be within the presence of so many unbelievable individuals, working to make sure justice is served to those that so deserve it,” says the second-year regulation and politics pupil.

The scandal, which noticed greater than 900 sub-postmasters prosecuted for stealing due to incorrect data from the Horizon pc system, has been referred to as the UK’s most widespread miscarriage of justice.

“This expertise impressed me to such an extent that I selected a module referred to as ‘Miscarriages of Justice’ for my diploma this yr.”

After attending the inquiry in June, she carried on watching it on-line.

She says she has been left in awe by the bravery of the sub-postmasters themselves, lots of whom have “misplaced properties, jobs, freedom and even lives, to maintain combating for themselves and others”.

Isabella is now following different inquiries concerning injustices however nonetheless thinks “the job is way from full” relating to justice for the sub-postmasters.

Carrie, 63, first heard in regards to the Put up Workplace scandal on the information earlier than watching the ITV drama.

“As soon as I realised the inquiry was accessible every day on YouTube, I used to be off! I used to be on vacation final February and located myself listening to the non-public accounts of sub-postmasters while sat on the seashore with earbuds.”

She additionally listened to a number of the Fujitsu engineers who had been answerable for Horizon as a result of she needed to grasp extra in regards to the bugs and errors within the software program.

“I turned considerably obsessed and backtracked to meet up with a number of the movies I realised I would missed from earlier within the inquiry,” says Carrie, who’s retired.

She tried to look at the inquiry every day and have become a fan of Nick Wallis, a journalist who has been reporting on the scandal for years, even attending one in all his tour days and shopping for his e-book.

She says former sub-postmasters and campaigners Sir Alan Bates and Jo Hamilton are two of her “inquiry heroes”, in addition to Jason Beer, the lead counsel for the inquiry.

Mr Beer has emerged as an unlikely cult hero because of his grilling of key witnesses on the inquiry.

“He was improbable to look at,” says Carrie.

She is now wanting ahead to studying the report by inquiry chair Sir Wyn Williams, which is anticipated to be printed subsequent yr.

“I might dearly prefer to see a lot of people prosecuted, although I doubt it will ever occur,” she says.

Abi Smith, 55, watched the inquiry on-line and says she turned extra drawn into it after listening to former Put up Workplace chief govt Paula Vennells give proof.

Ms Vennells, who had not spoken publicly about Horizon for nearly a decade, was quizzed over three days in May in probably the most anticipated look of the inquiry.

Abi, who works in schooling administration, says she discovered it “fairly weird” and “unbelievable” {that a} chief govt might declare “she did not know a lot”.

She was so impressed by the occasions that she determined to knit a put up field topper of Ms Vennells being questioned by Mr Beer.

“I simply needed to make an announcement actually,” she says.

Abi, whose grandad and aunt used to work for the Put up Workplace, thinks the scandal touched so many individuals as a result of “it is all the time been a really trusted establishment”.

She describes the occasions as a “tragedy of belief” and thinks it’ll take a while earlier than anything evokes her to knit a scene of such impression.

As an expat dwelling in Australia for the final 12 years, Paul Duckett initially watched Mr Bates vs The Put up Workplace to “reconnect with my homeland”.

“However I used to be additionally compelled by concern for the individuals I lived amongst for many of my life,” he says.

The 56-year-old important psychologist and college lecturer began posting in regards to the inquiry hearings on his YouTube channel.

He’s one other member of the Jason Beer fan membership. One among his movies, titled “What makes Mr Beer magnificent?”, at present has 80,000 views.

He says Mr Beer’s wit stood out. “He was sharp, fast to identify when solutions had been evasive or when witnesses handed off fantasy as reality. He used humour sparingly however successfully, usually exposing the absurdity of sure explanations.

“For those who requested Mr Beer, I believe he’d attribute the inquiry’s success to the staff round him and, in doing so, he’d reveal his personal magnificence. That humility is one in all his defining qualities.”

Though enthralled by the inquiry, Paul is glad it is now come to an finish and hopes “significant motion” shall be taken.

Pey Kan Su first heard in regards to the Put up Workplace scandal when his spouse talked about the ITV drama.

After watching on-line and seeing “the extraordinary complexity of the entire thing”, he determined to attend the hearings in particular person, going a complete of 29 instances.

“It has been probably the most eye-opening however uplifting expertise,” he says.

Pey Kan is a litigation solicitor, though he’s at present not practising, and an artist. He all the time carries papers and pencils with him and attending his first inquiry listening to was no exception. He started to recurrently draw the room whereas listening to the proof.

“Drawing helps one to see. I’ve just a few work of the inquiry hearings, the few that I felt I need to do a portray of so as to specific my ideas in regards to the witness and counsel.”

Pey Kan hopes the inquiry will go away legal professionals with “meals for thought”.

“I hope we by no means lose the ethical readability to face up once we see the little man being crushed down, and that the general public will all the time again those that want it most,” he says.

Extra reporting by Emma Simpson and Esyllt Carr