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The Great Post Office Scandal: The fight to expose a multimillion pound IT disaster which put innocent people in jail
This “factual thriller” from the journalist Nick Wallis details a scandal which has been described as one of the most widespread and significant miscarriages of justice in legal history. On 23rd April 2021, the Court of Appeal quashed the convictions of 39 former Subpostmasters and ruled their prosecutions were an affront to the public conscience. They had been prosecuted by the Post Office using IT evidence from an unreliable computer system called Horizon.
When the Post Office became aware that Horizon didn’t work properly, it covered it up. Nick describes how a group of Subpostmasters worked out what was going on, formed a campaign group and fought the government-owned Post Office through the courts to eventual victory.
The Great Post Office Scandal has been described as “an extraordinary journalistic exposé of a huge miscarriage of justice” by Ian Hislop, Editor of Private Eye Magazine.
Dame Joan Bakewell says “Nick’s narrative has the power of a great thriller as he lays bare the lies and deceit that has ruined so many lives.”
When the Post Office became aware that Horizon didn’t work properly, it covered it up. Nick describes how a group of Subpostmasters worked out what was going on, formed a campaign group and fought the government-owned Post Office through the courts to eventual victory.
The Great Post Office Scandal has been described as “an extraordinary journalistic exposé of a huge miscarriage of justice” by Ian Hislop, Editor of Private Eye Magazine.
Dame Joan Bakewell says “Nick’s narrative has the power of a great thriller as he lays bare the lies and deceit that has ruined so many lives.”
544 pages, Hardcover
First published November 18, 2021
204 people are currently reading
1151 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 139 reviews
January 4, 2024
After watching episode one of Mr Bates vs The Post Office, I was angry. Very, very angry. So angry in fact, I felt the need to do a deep dive into this travesty/sorry fiasco/inhumane, unbelievable, multiple miscarriages of justice. My heart went out to all Subpostmasters/postmistresses that were caught up and destroyed financially, mentally, publicly and socially, and especially to those that couldn’t cope with the duress they were under and thought suicide was their only way out. My deep dive took me into the early hours of the morning and during my research I found this book. Like most people, I was vaguely aware that this was happening, but due to lack of reporting in the media had no idea just how grotesque and unjust this whole situation was.
Nick Wallis has more or less been with this from the start and has had the back of the subpostmasters the whole time. He was in court with them, privy to a lot of inside information and was friends with most of the victims by the end of this extremely long, unnecessarily long saga… Nick Wallis is first and foremost a journalist, who on the whiff of a good story started his own investigation. With no clue of how important this story would become and how unbelievably obscene the Post Office had behaved, Nick ran with it, and like a dog with a bone didn’t give up on it. Bringing it to the attention of some TV programmes helped along the way and made a few more people stand up and take note. Not everything was as it seemed.
I found this book riveting. So much more information than the TV series and fills in a lot of blanks and in between the lines. Eloquently written, unbiased and extremely informational (without being over the top) I read every single word. As the investigation ramps up and the full extent of the story unfolding rears its head, and the victims are interviewed, you feel the empathy that Nick Wallis has. You feel his commitment and self imposed obligation to fight for these once strangers.
Mr Bates worked tirelessly for himself (initially) and others when he realised he was not “the only one.” How this has dragged on for so long is disgusting. The tactics of the Post Office to drain the legal fund of the subpostmasters before any verdict (which would then negate any need to pay damages) was disgusting. How a publicly owned company could behave so appallingly is mind boggling and if it wasn’t for Mr Bates they would have got away with it. Eye opening for sure, I’m glad ITV has brought this story to the masses and I’m all the more informed thanks to Nick Wallis.
Nick Wallis has more or less been with this from the start and has had the back of the subpostmasters the whole time. He was in court with them, privy to a lot of inside information and was friends with most of the victims by the end of this extremely long, unnecessarily long saga… Nick Wallis is first and foremost a journalist, who on the whiff of a good story started his own investigation. With no clue of how important this story would become and how unbelievably obscene the Post Office had behaved, Nick ran with it, and like a dog with a bone didn’t give up on it. Bringing it to the attention of some TV programmes helped along the way and made a few more people stand up and take note. Not everything was as it seemed.
I found this book riveting. So much more information than the TV series and fills in a lot of blanks and in between the lines. Eloquently written, unbiased and extremely informational (without being over the top) I read every single word. As the investigation ramps up and the full extent of the story unfolding rears its head, and the victims are interviewed, you feel the empathy that Nick Wallis has. You feel his commitment and self imposed obligation to fight for these once strangers.
Mr Bates worked tirelessly for himself (initially) and others when he realised he was not “the only one.” How this has dragged on for so long is disgusting. The tactics of the Post Office to drain the legal fund of the subpostmasters before any verdict (which would then negate any need to pay damages) was disgusting. How a publicly owned company could behave so appallingly is mind boggling and if it wasn’t for Mr Bates they would have got away with it. Eye opening for sure, I’m glad ITV has brought this story to the masses and I’m all the more informed thanks to Nick Wallis.
December 26, 2021
Like a lot of good investigative journalism, this is absolutely gripping. I actually found it hard to put it down. The case (well, cases) have been in the news very recently and they are absolutely shocking. Not only because of the grotesque injustices, the ruined lives, the imprisonment of innocent people, the arrogance and complacency and the appalling behaviour of those in power, but because of the disgraceful abuse of the judicial system, particularly the abuse of private prosecution powers. There are not many institutions which have the right to bring criminal prosecutions. The Financial Conduct Authority is one example, HMRC another. The Post Office had powers to prosecute and they should have used them in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors, just as the Crown Prosecution Service would do. They did not. Fraser J’s judgment in the case is a masterpiece; if you are interested in the case, it (well, they) is available online. At the time of writing, this is not over; the issue of accountability is still under discussion. The book also discussed the fact that it is not clear what happened to the money. The IT issues caused large sums to be shown as missing when they were not. The Post Office demanded, and was given, large sums to ‘make good’ those ‘losses’. That involved taking people’s assets, their savings and the homes. If those sums were not due, and it seems that they were not, the book asks where the money actually went and whether it is possible to recover it. We shall see whether those were were paid staggering sums of money and given honours will be held to account; the author says that they are ‘not going to hold [their] breath’. All in all, an excellent read and an outstanding piece of investigative journalism. Like the Wall Street Journal’s investigation of Theranos, it is gripping stuff and shows how important it is that we have good investigative journalists and publications brave enough to expose abuses, which are no less human for having been committed by corporate entities. ‘Corporate’ sounds detached, impersonal. But this book never lets us forget that individuals in corporations make decisions, determine culture and ultimately approve the policies that make these horrifying events possible.
December 5, 2021
This is the definitive account of one of modern history's worst miscarriages of justice. It is a huge scandal which deserves to be far more notorious. It is a tale of corporate dishonesty and bullying, which destroyed the lives of honest, hardworking subpostmasters. It is a tale of an ongoing fight for justice and accountability against overwhelming odds, and the terrible human cost of a company which put profit ahead of doing the right thing.
This book brilliantly examine and explains each aspect of this complicated saga, without ever forgetting the individual human beings who are the heart and soul of this tale. Read this book!
This book brilliantly examine and explains each aspect of this complicated saga, without ever forgetting the individual human beings who are the heart and soul of this tale. Read this book!
September 17, 2024
It's difficult to know where to start with this revealing insight into how a previously trusted organisation, The Post Office, treated some of its Subpostmasters over a period of nearly 20 years, those who used the Horizon IT system that introduced discrepancies into their weekly financial tallies.
These subpostmasters were prosecuted and forced to pay back the amount they 'owed' when, in fact, they owed the Post Office nothing. Some people were imprisoned, some committed suicide.
There are so many disgusting aspects about this utter scandal that it's difficult to know where to start. When the subpostmasters rang up the helpline at the Post Office, the people on the helpline were told to tell whomever rang them, that they were the only ones reporting an issue - an absolute lie. It's really down to a man called Alan Bates, now Sir Alan Bates, and a few other investigative people who gradually built up a picture of the extent of the issue. The Post Office knew there was a problem with Horizon as did Fujitsu who provided the software to the Post Office. The government eventually became suspicious, mostly because of Alan Bates's strategic campaigning, and because of the court cases that began against the Post Office. Some of these are still ongoing. And yet, and yet the Tory government still awarded government contracts to Fujitsu
Then there's Paula Vennells the Chief Executive of the Post Office from 2012 - 2019 who almost certainly knew that Horizon was dodgy and yet the prosecutions continued. She was rewarded for her cost-cutting at the Post Office by being given a CBE in the 2019 New Year's Honours List, just when the convictions of the early 2000s were being overturned. She is truly a creature of the establishment, even being interviewed for the position of Bishop of London, the third most important position in the Church of England. Yet this "Christian" woman showed no compassion for her employees.
No one from The Post Office has been prosecuted for their part in this huge miscarriage of justice, as of yet, but I hope they are, because these people ruined hundreds of people's lives and justice has to be seen to be done.
Congratulations to the author, Computer Weekly who first broke the story in 2009, and Private Eye who really brought this story out into the open. Their investigative journalism is second to none and as any regular reader of this magazine knows, there are other scandals occurring and the authorities are doing nothing about any of them. I expect in 10 years time, these scandals will have broken into the broader public domain and people will be asking why something wasn't done sooner....
We never learn...Labour and the Tories are so similar in their treatment of those outside the financial services industry that it's time for a change from both of them...anyway, I'm going off topic.
Brilliant book. Recommended.
These subpostmasters were prosecuted and forced to pay back the amount they 'owed' when, in fact, they owed the Post Office nothing. Some people were imprisoned, some committed suicide.
There are so many disgusting aspects about this utter scandal that it's difficult to know where to start. When the subpostmasters rang up the helpline at the Post Office, the people on the helpline were told to tell whomever rang them, that they were the only ones reporting an issue - an absolute lie. It's really down to a man called Alan Bates, now Sir Alan Bates, and a few other investigative people who gradually built up a picture of the extent of the issue. The Post Office knew there was a problem with Horizon as did Fujitsu who provided the software to the Post Office. The government eventually became suspicious, mostly because of Alan Bates's strategic campaigning, and because of the court cases that began against the Post Office. Some of these are still ongoing. And yet, and yet the Tory government still awarded government contracts to Fujitsu
Then there's Paula Vennells the Chief Executive of the Post Office from 2012 - 2019 who almost certainly knew that Horizon was dodgy and yet the prosecutions continued. She was rewarded for her cost-cutting at the Post Office by being given a CBE in the 2019 New Year's Honours List, just when the convictions of the early 2000s were being overturned. She is truly a creature of the establishment, even being interviewed for the position of Bishop of London, the third most important position in the Church of England. Yet this "Christian" woman showed no compassion for her employees.
No one from The Post Office has been prosecuted for their part in this huge miscarriage of justice, as of yet, but I hope they are, because these people ruined hundreds of people's lives and justice has to be seen to be done.
Congratulations to the author, Computer Weekly who first broke the story in 2009, and Private Eye who really brought this story out into the open. Their investigative journalism is second to none and as any regular reader of this magazine knows, there are other scandals occurring and the authorities are doing nothing about any of them. I expect in 10 years time, these scandals will have broken into the broader public domain and people will be asking why something wasn't done sooner....
We never learn...Labour and the Tories are so similar in their treatment of those outside the financial services industry that it's time for a change from both of them...anyway, I'm going off topic.
Brilliant book. Recommended.
August 27, 2023
I often struggle with non-fiction books (much preferring to lose myself in fiction) but I couldn’t stop reading this, and won’t stop thinking about it for some time. I knew next to nothing of the Horizon scandal before reading Nick Wallis’s incredible piece of investigative journalism. The miscarriage of justice against former postmasters is unbelievable. Nick does a great job of highlighting the true personal cost of managerial greed and negligence by telling the stories of so many postmasters whose lives were destroyed by the Post Office. The complex legal cases and hundreds of different individuals involved (from apathetic ministers to Fujitsu employees) could make for a dense, boring read. However Nick manages to weave his true sense of injustice at the scandal through every chapter, leaving you desperately turning the page to find out what happened. Truly outstanding writing.
December 18, 2021
A great read.
Perhaps too many sad examples of good people who’s lives were ruined by a government organisation whose misplaced belief in its brand overruled the moral compass we would hope our supposed great institutions represent.
Unfortunately The Post Office is just one of many ‘Arms length bodies’ that require closer scrutiny.
I look forward to the two follow-up volumes; the first analysing how the Post Office got to that sorry state and the governance (people and structures) that allowed it, and the second casting the net more widely to the many similar government sponsored arms length bodies!
Perhaps too many sad examples of good people who’s lives were ruined by a government organisation whose misplaced belief in its brand overruled the moral compass we would hope our supposed great institutions represent.
Unfortunately The Post Office is just one of many ‘Arms length bodies’ that require closer scrutiny.
I look forward to the two follow-up volumes; the first analysing how the Post Office got to that sorry state and the governance (people and structures) that allowed it, and the second casting the net more widely to the many similar government sponsored arms length bodies!
February 14, 2024
An extremely detailed account of the post office scandal. The writing makes a complicated subject an easy read and highlights the horror and pain the post office caused to hard working folk. The legal processes can be quite hard to get your head around but the author lays it out well. What’s highlighted in this book is the perseverance of people who have not let this scandal lie.
February 21, 2022
Nick Wallis has written a well-researched and a socially and politically important book that exposes probably the biggest corporate scandal by a UK company. The Post Office Limited (POL) is fully a Government owned entity with origins that date back to 1660 when it was established by Charles II. The POL was long considered as "Britain's most trusted brand."
Around the turn of this century, the POL introduced Horizon, a front-end transaction processing terminal to 20,000 Post Offices serving 28 million annual customers. Horizon was at the time the largest non-military technology network in Europe - and it was not fit for purpose.
Wallis takes the reader through a harrowing narrative how the POL executives and the company's technology partner Fujitsu engaged in a systematic cover-up of the bugs in the system that had a propensity to generate false account balances at post offices that were managed by sub-postmasters. Sub-postmasters were people with variable technical skills who had often invested their life savings in a POL franchise. Under a contract that would have been more akin to a Victorian robber baron than a 21st century agency agreement, the sub-postmasters were held personally liable for any cash shortfalls produced by Horizon without an ability to access Horizon for account reconciliation. The POL insisted that Horizon was infallible and any sub-postmaster who did not make good of the shortfall on the spot was subjected to investigation that invariably resulted in a criminal prosecution and being pressurised without any moral consideration or due process by the POL's investigation department into confessing either theft or false accounting in a hope of a more lenient sentence. Between 2000 and 2015, 738 people were prosecuted by the POL. The book tells the stories of some of these powerless people whose lives were totally and utterly destroyed by the POL.
I was horrified by the POL’s corporate culture that that had created employees, managers and executives who blindly believed and insist that Horizon was 100% bug free and accurate. And once it had become clear that Horizon was not fit for purpose, I was aghast to read about the systematic effort by the POL executives and their legal teams to cover up Horizon’s system failures and the £1/2 billion of taxpayers’ money that was spent by the POL to wear down the efforts of a group “Justice for Sub-postmasters Alliance” to seek redress.
The POL was eventually found guilty on all accounts for a huge miscarriage of justice, but we are yet to learn if any of the POL’s executives will be held accountable for their actions.
Around the turn of this century, the POL introduced Horizon, a front-end transaction processing terminal to 20,000 Post Offices serving 28 million annual customers. Horizon was at the time the largest non-military technology network in Europe - and it was not fit for purpose.
Wallis takes the reader through a harrowing narrative how the POL executives and the company's technology partner Fujitsu engaged in a systematic cover-up of the bugs in the system that had a propensity to generate false account balances at post offices that were managed by sub-postmasters. Sub-postmasters were people with variable technical skills who had often invested their life savings in a POL franchise. Under a contract that would have been more akin to a Victorian robber baron than a 21st century agency agreement, the sub-postmasters were held personally liable for any cash shortfalls produced by Horizon without an ability to access Horizon for account reconciliation. The POL insisted that Horizon was infallible and any sub-postmaster who did not make good of the shortfall on the spot was subjected to investigation that invariably resulted in a criminal prosecution and being pressurised without any moral consideration or due process by the POL's investigation department into confessing either theft or false accounting in a hope of a more lenient sentence. Between 2000 and 2015, 738 people were prosecuted by the POL. The book tells the stories of some of these powerless people whose lives were totally and utterly destroyed by the POL.
I was horrified by the POL’s corporate culture that that had created employees, managers and executives who blindly believed and insist that Horizon was 100% bug free and accurate. And once it had become clear that Horizon was not fit for purpose, I was aghast to read about the systematic effort by the POL executives and their legal teams to cover up Horizon’s system failures and the £1/2 billion of taxpayers’ money that was spent by the POL to wear down the efforts of a group “Justice for Sub-postmasters Alliance” to seek redress.
The POL was eventually found guilty on all accounts for a huge miscarriage of justice, but we are yet to learn if any of the POL’s executives will be held accountable for their actions.
January 16, 2024
This was an extraordinary book. I was inspired to read it by the current news coverage of the post office scandal. It’s hard to believe that there is such manifest corruption and mendacity at the heart of a venerable British institution, and one that is public owned to boot. If this has been a Grisham novel, I’d have been impressed with the narrative arc, the character development and the sheer scale and scope of the story. That it is a real story with huge impact on so many upstanding citizens is both appalling and compelling. Congratulations to Nick Wallace for staying the course and exposing this scandal.
I can only hope that the senior post office employees and government are held accountable.
I can only hope that the senior post office employees and government are held accountable.
January 22, 2024
A proper page turner in the ‘true crime’ genre. I’m not sure anybody (with the exception of a couple of MPs and a handful of lawyers) come out of this very well…
April 28, 2024
Nick Wallis' decades-long opus of dogged investigative journalism, plunging the reader deep into the bowels of British bureaucracy's characterscape. Absolutely revolting systemic and institutional harm against people truly helpless to resist. White-collar drudgery turns macabre, red-mawed, unthinkable. The UK's version of Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup.
February 17, 2024
A journalist’s book describing a legal scandal that’s increasingly made the UK headlines in the last few years and, as with anything involving lawyers, is still dragging on though hopefully in its final stages.
Sub-postmasters and postmistresses (SPM’s) are mostly subcontractors for UK postal services, usually running retail corner shops as well. In 2000-2001 they were confronted with a new networked computer system (‘Horizon’) supplied by the government owned national Post Office to manage the postal side of their business. Very quickly some SPMs seemed to be showing deficits they couldn’t explain for postal services. The Post Office authorities insisted the new software and the terminals were ‘robust’ and demanded deficits were made good almost immediately (with minimal investigations by aggressive Post Office security staff who usually assumed SPMs were prone to commit theft).
The story gets complicated! And has been going on for 20 years though only in the public attention for the last 3-4 years. Because of Post Office history it has (had) a special legal capability to bring its own private prosecutions, independent of police or public prosecutor involvement (mostly anyway). About 750 SPMs received some sort of conviction based on faulty evidence from the Horizon software; about 80 received prison sentences; maybe 2000-3000 SPMs tried to clear apparent deficits from their own funds to disguise them from the Post Office (a curious crime!). Happily the legal wheels have slowly ground and the Post Office management and the computer software supplier (Fujitsu) have been found responsible for possibly the biggest miscarriage of justice in British history. The book finishes with the status of about one year ago, and will probably need a further edition once the wrangles over compensation and formal overturning of convictions, plus a Public Inquiry (proceeding slowly), conclude.
Certainly not the escapism I usually crave. A bit depressing in parts, especially when some tragic personal case studies of persecuted SPMs are given; convictions, job loss and business bankruptcy, often followed by mental problems, were typical. The definition of Kafka-esque for many SPMs. And it’s not a confidence builder in the UK legal system. The Post Office is shown to be riddled with mediocre middle management, incompetent investigators and a senior management determined to ‘protect the brand’ even when doubts about the Horizon software and the SPM prosecutions were confirmed to them. A study of the bizarre unquestioning loyalty some employees give to large companies!
But some brave determined people appear trying to bring bureaucracy and government to account - SPMs, lawyers and journalists. Even some critical interventions by politicians from parties I normally dislike!
It’s well written by a journalist heavily involved from its early stages. It’s one of my fastest recent reads because it’s structured a bit like a thriller where you have to know what happens next. Legal issues are explained in a very accessible manner. I was apprehensive about grinding through 550 pages on this scandal but it went quicker than I expected - the last 20% of the book contains addendums listing critical characters and organisations, and extensive index, which can be avoided if you wish.
For UK readers probably and it’ll make you angry and fed up but it’s also a compelling read - 5*.
Sub-postmasters and postmistresses (SPM’s) are mostly subcontractors for UK postal services, usually running retail corner shops as well. In 2000-2001 they were confronted with a new networked computer system (‘Horizon’) supplied by the government owned national Post Office to manage the postal side of their business. Very quickly some SPMs seemed to be showing deficits they couldn’t explain for postal services. The Post Office authorities insisted the new software and the terminals were ‘robust’ and demanded deficits were made good almost immediately (with minimal investigations by aggressive Post Office security staff who usually assumed SPMs were prone to commit theft).
The story gets complicated! And has been going on for 20 years though only in the public attention for the last 3-4 years. Because of Post Office history it has (had) a special legal capability to bring its own private prosecutions, independent of police or public prosecutor involvement (mostly anyway). About 750 SPMs received some sort of conviction based on faulty evidence from the Horizon software; about 80 received prison sentences; maybe 2000-3000 SPMs tried to clear apparent deficits from their own funds to disguise them from the Post Office (a curious crime!). Happily the legal wheels have slowly ground and the Post Office management and the computer software supplier (Fujitsu) have been found responsible for possibly the biggest miscarriage of justice in British history. The book finishes with the status of about one year ago, and will probably need a further edition once the wrangles over compensation and formal overturning of convictions, plus a Public Inquiry (proceeding slowly), conclude.
Certainly not the escapism I usually crave. A bit depressing in parts, especially when some tragic personal case studies of persecuted SPMs are given; convictions, job loss and business bankruptcy, often followed by mental problems, were typical. The definition of Kafka-esque for many SPMs. And it’s not a confidence builder in the UK legal system. The Post Office is shown to be riddled with mediocre middle management, incompetent investigators and a senior management determined to ‘protect the brand’ even when doubts about the Horizon software and the SPM prosecutions were confirmed to them. A study of the bizarre unquestioning loyalty some employees give to large companies!
But some brave determined people appear trying to bring bureaucracy and government to account - SPMs, lawyers and journalists. Even some critical interventions by politicians from parties I normally dislike!
It’s well written by a journalist heavily involved from its early stages. It’s one of my fastest recent reads because it’s structured a bit like a thriller where you have to know what happens next. Legal issues are explained in a very accessible manner. I was apprehensive about grinding through 550 pages on this scandal but it went quicker than I expected - the last 20% of the book contains addendums listing critical characters and organisations, and extensive index, which can be avoided if you wish.
For UK readers probably and it’ll make you angry and fed up but it’s also a compelling read - 5*.
January 6, 2023
I was shocked that the timeline for this 'scandal' essentially started in 1994, but that from 1999 the roll-out of Horizon (The "largest non-military IT system in Europe"), began and subsequently years of misery and fraudulent activity.
Nick Wallis gives a great exposure of this staggering miscarriage of justice. This truly is a book I did not want to put down, despite it being a veritable tome, this is a book worth reading, a fight worth understanding and is why non-fiction is my favourite category. The truth will out!
Our once esteemed and beloved Post Office has slipped from its pedestal
"Now all we need is for the people who are responsible for this to be held accountable"
And still at the beginning of 2023, this, above all else, remains the biggest shock!
Nick Wallis gives a great exposure of this staggering miscarriage of justice. This truly is a book I did not want to put down, despite it being a veritable tome, this is a book worth reading, a fight worth understanding and is why non-fiction is my favourite category. The truth will out!
Our once esteemed and beloved Post Office has slipped from its pedestal
"Now all we need is for the people who are responsible for this to be held accountable"
And still at the beginning of 2023, this, above all else, remains the biggest shock!
November 26, 2023
An outstanding feat of investigative journalism.
The Post Office destroyed lives, lied about it and didn't care what happened to those it (wrongly) believed had commited fraud & theft following the installation of the Horizon computer system.
Nick Wallis covers the Sub-Postmasters stories with care, compassion but without losing the important details.
It took 15 years for some of these Sub-Postmasters to see justice done & their names cleared.
As of January 2023 many are still awaiting the full compensation they are due.
If you want to see how Britain works (or, more accurately, doesn't work) and how an institution can be rotten from the top down, but good from the bottom up, you have to read this book.
Highly recommended.
5*
The Post Office destroyed lives, lied about it and didn't care what happened to those it (wrongly) believed had commited fraud & theft following the installation of the Horizon computer system.
Nick Wallis covers the Sub-Postmasters stories with care, compassion but without losing the important details.
It took 15 years for some of these Sub-Postmasters to see justice done & their names cleared.
As of January 2023 many are still awaiting the full compensation they are due.
If you want to see how Britain works (or, more accurately, doesn't work) and how an institution can be rotten from the top down, but good from the bottom up, you have to read this book.
Highly recommended.
5*
December 21, 2021
A really well-researched, persuasive book which contextualises the Post Office’s treatment of its subpostmasters alongside other recent British miscarriages of justice.
Wallis brings out both the (huge) human impacts alongside the detail of how the scandal was allowed to run on and on. The only reason it’s not a five star book is that some of the technical underpinnings of the case (both legal and how the Post Office’s IT failures) are hard to follow at points, although that reflects the reality rather than the storytelling.
Wallis brings out both the (huge) human impacts alongside the detail of how the scandal was allowed to run on and on. The only reason it’s not a five star book is that some of the technical underpinnings of the case (both legal and how the Post Office’s IT failures) are hard to follow at points, although that reflects the reality rather than the storytelling.
February 9, 2023
A harrowing and very important book which highlights the stories of people who have lost so much over the years.
This is however a terribly structured book (particularly parts 1 and 3), with lots of skipping around the timeline, poorly explained legal process and unnecessary commentary on things that are not central to the case.
This is however a terribly structured book (particularly parts 1 and 3), with lots of skipping around the timeline, poorly explained legal process and unnecessary commentary on things that are not central to the case.
January 3, 2022
A brilliantly well written account of The Post Office’s Horizon Scandal.It’s the best book I’ve read this year and certainly the most important. I hope all that colluded to blight the lives of these SPMs are hanging their heads in shame. I suspect they aren’t. Power corrupts.
January 11, 2023
Brilliant book that reads like a thriller with so much detail. Makes you cry at the complete injustice for these people, never mind the Post Office wasting half a billion of taxpayers money defending themselves!
January 25, 2024
Although I'd read various newspaper articles about this scandal, I could never find out what had actually gone wrong in the Horizon system to cause these 'losses' that the sub postmasters were accused of. Also, as reports detailed that many of them had put their own money in to the system to 'plug' the losses, where did this money itself go?
I was curious because of working many years ago in systems development.
The book does give some answers.
However, the main thrust of the book is detailing the very human consequences of this scandal. It does also give a lot of detail about the ins and outs of the court cases. This all leaves you thinking that justice for ordinary people is hard to obtain.
I was curious because of working many years ago in systems development.
The book does give some answers.
However, the main thrust of the book is detailing the very human consequences of this scandal. It does also give a lot of detail about the ins and outs of the court cases. This all leaves you thinking that justice for ordinary people is hard to obtain.
July 12, 2024
If you were left in a state of boiling anger after watching Mr Bates v The Post Office a read of this fascinating doorstep of a volume will leave you fit-to-burst, flames-out-of-your-ears. apoplectically raging.
It recounts a tale of stinking corporate/governmental corruption of staggering extent, for which not a single person has yet been held culpable.
You won’t want to put it down.
It recounts a tale of stinking corporate/governmental corruption of staggering extent, for which not a single person has yet been held culpable.
You won’t want to put it down.
March 26, 2025
I still can't fathom that the Post Office, as a government interest and a pillar of English business, was allowed to continue destroying the lives of far too many people for far too many years. Great story and journalism investigation. Worth a read of you were hooked on Mr Bates & The Post Office show.
February 9, 2024
Not only an incredibly significant indictment of all those responsible for the scandal, but one of the best written pieces of investigative journalism. I really appreciate how the author does not gloss over details or the mundane: it makes it human and real.
February 13, 2024
The definitive book on the Post Office/Fujitsu Horizon scandal from the point to of view of the journalist who help to bring it light. Truly heartbreaking.
Must read for anyone in IT and especially finance IT and compliance.
Must read for anyone in IT and especially finance IT and compliance.
June 20, 2024
An exceptionally important primer on the events leading up to the public inquiry. The cases of the sub-postmasters remain heartbreaking miscarriages of justice. The behaviour of the Post Office, Fujitsu and the various government appointees and ministers appalling.
December 8, 2023
A brilliant account of a truly astonishing episode in British history. Every page left me shaking my head. It's hard to imagine how a government organisation in the UK could behave the way it did, and the perpetrators would get away unpunished. The book is superbly researched and written.
October 3, 2024
Listened to the Audiobook version.
A truly jaw dropping book. I urge everyone to pick up a copy regardless of if its audio or text. What was done to these people is beyond abhorrent.
A truly jaw dropping book. I urge everyone to pick up a copy regardless of if its audio or text. What was done to these people is beyond abhorrent.
June 29, 2024
Would give it 10 stars if I could!
July 24, 2024
Fascinating book. Incredible story. As an IT Project Manager it contains such a strong message to not always assume everyone has ethics and the strength to push for the right outcomes.
January 12, 2025
Incredible, detailed and shocking. Wallis' journalistic style added a lot for me, as did the useful resources and glossary as a non-UK reader to understand the legal and political terms. He makes a case for the importance of in-person court journalism.
I'm looking forward to the sequel about the inquiry, as well as the book about gender he says he's working on. Five stars because I could not put it down.
I'm looking forward to the sequel about the inquiry, as well as the book about gender he says he's working on. Five stars because I could not put it down.
February 7, 2024
This was very interesting and great journalism. But I think it would have been better structured thematically rather than chronologically - particularly with the long legal battles in the second half of the book.
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