Key Takeaways

• In 2004, Alan Bates reported issues with the Post Office’s Horizon IT system to Computer Weekly. In 2009, Computer Weekly wrote its first article featuring multiple subpostmasters with similar stories, leading Bates to form the Justice For Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA) with Computer Weekly’s support.
• Computer Weekly broke the story about bugs in Horizon causing accounting errors, crucial in proving the Post Office falsely prosecuted subpostmasters.
• Despite initial media dismissal, Computer Weekly’s persistent reporting (over 400 articles and counting) gained the attention of MPs and outlets like Private Eye and BBC Panorama, highlighting wrongful prosecutions and cover-ups by the Post Office.
• In 2019, a High Court case, heavily informed by Computer Weekly’s reporting, proved Horizon’s faults. By 2021, many wrongful convictions were overturned. In 2024, the government passed unprecedented legislation to exonerate all the victims en masse.
• Computer Weekly continues to report on the scandal driving awareness and holding those responsible to account.

One Page Summary

Background

In 2004, a former subpostmaster called Alan Bates contacted Computer Weekly claiming that problems with the Post Office IT system, called Horizon, had caused accounting losses for which he had been blamed and subsequently sacked. At the time, Alan was the only one saying this.

In 2008, another former subpostmaster, Lee Castleton, contacted us with a very similar story.

By May 2009, Computer Weekly had found five others saying the same thing – all of whom were told by the Post Office that they were the only person having these problems.

When we published their stories, the Post Office told everyone who asked that we didn’t know what we were talking about. But to us, with an understanding of how complex IT systems work, the Post Office claims that there were no bugs in Horizon was a flashing neon sign warning that something very wrong was taking place. We expected the story to gather momentum as national papers and broadcasters took an interest – but nobody did, because the Post Office told them the story was rubbish. We didn’t believe them.

“People found us because of that original story in Computer Weekly,” said Jo Hamilton, one of the seven subpostmasters featured in Computer Weekly’s expose in 2009. “In one case, they even waved [the magazine] around in court and got their case adjourned.”

The plan/execution

As a result of that May 2009 story, Alan Bates formed the Justice For Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA) and, thanks to Computer Weekly helping to publicise his aims, he slowly found hundreds of others who had experienced identical problems with Horizon. Our campaign was long and dogged – there were few major headline-grabbing revelations and hard evidence was difficult to find. But slowly, story by story, by documenting what had happened to subpostmasters and the Post Office’s heavy handed response, the bigger picture began to emerge. MPs started to take up the cause for their subpostmaster constituents – some, such as James Arbuthnot, citing Computer Weekly’s campaign as the reason they were convinced something was wrong.

We have since learned, through evidence presented to the public inquiry, that despite the Post Office’s denials at the time, that first story and our subsequent reporting truly rattled the people at the top of the organisation.

Pressure started to build on the Post Office as Private Eye and BBC Panorama started to examine the scandal too. Meanwhile, Computer Weekly continued digging, and was the first to reveal evidence of a Horizon bug that had been shown to cause accounting errors. It was becoming increasingly obvious that not only had the Post Office falsely prosecuted hundreds of people for phantom losses caused by Horizon – but a cover-up of their actions and ensuing lies was now underway. And yet still the scandal was given scant coverage by national media.

The Results

In 2019, Computer Weekly reported on the High Court case brought by Bates and the JFSA – where our stories were prominently featured among all the evidence. The case proved that bugs in Horizon were responsible for the phantom losses for which victims were blamed, prosecuted, jailed and forced to each pay many thousands of pounds so Post Office could recoup those “losses”. In 2021, we were at the Court of Appeal to see the first group of victims have their convictions overturned.

“Computer Weekly is a real go-to place for a timeline of the scandal and thoroughly professional and accurate reporting of what has gone on. Journalism at its finest,” said Hamilton, who was the first to have her conviction overturned in 2021.

The public inquiry set up in response to those cases is still ongoing. And Computer Weekly is still today revealing problems with Horizon and the Post Office’s obfuscation – plans to replace Horizon with a new IT system are in turmoil, with costs exceeding £1bn and five-year delays, meaning supplier Fujitsu is set to make even more money from its 25-year association with the controversy.

In 2024, the UK government passed unprecedented legislation to exonerate all the victims en masse.

In the fifteen years since Computer Weekly first exposed the scandal, we have published over 400 stories documenting the progress towards justice, revealing the truth and the cover-up in the face of aggression and legal threats from the Post Office.

“Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the work you did. It really helped,” said another of the Post Office victims, Sally Stringer, addressing Computer Weekly chief reporter Karl Flinders on BBC Breakfast in January 2024.

Since the ITV drama about the scandal, the rest of the country finally shares the outrage that has driven us throughout – and the rest of the media are following every twist and turn of the continuing saga. Computer Weekly will keep going until justice, compensation, and accountability for those responsible have been achieved.