Well I am pleased to announce that after a huge amount of pressure the government has finally caved and will upgrade the current 'whitewash' inquiry into a full Statutory Inquiry from the 1st June. This will give Sir Wyn Williams the power to compel witnesses to give evidence under oath if necessary and force the disclosure of documents. This is a massive step in the right direction for the affected Sub Postmasters. The only contentious part is the terms of reference still do not go far enough in my opinion but we will keep up the pressure to make sure the inquiry delivers the justice the victims deserve. The minister also made it clear that victims could discuss the losses they made in this scandal when engaging with the new statutory inquiry but as this is outside the scope I am not sure how much Sir Wyn Williams can report or make recommendations regarding suitable compensation. I made a comment to the press after the announcement in the House of Commons yesterday that read :-
'It is a step in the right direction. I also appreciated the apparent change of tone in the Minister's responses today. He seemed a lot more sympathetic towards affected Sub Postmasters than in previous despatch box appearances and we have to give the government the benefit of doubt and see what they deliver. It is important we keep their feet to the fire as this should have all started last year and could be well on the way to conclusion already. The terms of reference still do not go far enough. We still need a commitment on compensation with regards to the original 555 group of claimants. The minister, after meeting Nick Read could have said that those 555 Sub Postmasters can enter into the scheme and be calculated as though they hadn't been part of the litigation and will receive the difference from what they have already been awarded - all equal and fair! The other worry for me is Post Office is controlling this entire scheme without any independent or outside scrutiny and once those in it join and Post Office offers its findings they aren't able to take a legal route. We need an independent oversight by the likes of Second Sight or similar to ensure the Post Office is being fair and above board in its approach (not sure if it has that word in its vocabulary).'
There was a good article in yahoo news which has a picture of myself outside the Court of Appeal which you can read here :-
Post Office CEO Nick Read was called to a meeting with ministers yesterday aswell and at this time we have no idea what was discussed. The change in tone of the minister yesterday regarding compensation seemed to be that more will be done. I have learnt never to trust very much what the minister has to say until it is actually delivered, but I also like to give the benefit of doubt. The full and final settlement statement was mentioned again but after the minister was pressed by a fellow MP on the issue he appeared to suggest fair compensation must be delivered to everyone but it would be up to the Post Office to decide on how that happens. Now does that mean my idea is going to used somehow and they allow all of us to join the new Shortfall Scheme or will the Post Office request more funds from the treasury with the promise of repayment using future profits?! Watch this space as I intend to write again to Nick Read and ask for clarification on this after our meeting a few weeks ago. You can listen to the entire statement and debate in the House of Commons here, I have forwarded to the correct period :-
https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/9ed99067-5205-479a-a9f7-28867e325284?in=13:42:25&out=14:31:30
Lord Arbuthnot commented after the statement and said :-
'The huge gap is that of compensation. The Minister may be right to say that an inquiry cannot of itself make legally binding recommendations about compensation, but he is wrong to say that therefore it has to go through the courts. If the government or a government-owned entity behaves badly (let alone as spectacularly badly as both have done in this case), it can and should compensate those whom it has wronged. It doesn’t have to wait to be sued. Finally, Paul Scully said that he wants to get the Post Office onto a good footing for the future. Yes, we all want to see that, but he won’t achieve that while this burning injustice, and the absurd distinction between compensating those of the 555 litigants who have had convictions overturned but not compensating those who have not or who may not have been convicted, remains.'
Sir Wyn Williams himself commented after the announcement and the most interesting part was definitely about failure to disclose documents. He said :-
'However, there can be no denying that the judgment of the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) in R v Hamilton and others, understood in the context of the judgments of Mr Justice Fraser in the civil litigation between sub-postmasters and Post Office Ltd, has generated important lines of enquiry some of which were previously undisclosed. Against this background, the powers available to a statutory public inquiry are necessary to support a proper assessment of all the relevant facts. Having digested the judgment of the Court of Appeal and returned to the judgments of Mr Justice Fraser over many days I made the request to Minister Scully that he should convert the Inquiry.'
Read his full statement here :-
Paula Vennells the previous CEO of the Post Office commented on the updated inquiry and said she welcomed the news. I think her statement is a bit rich considering the way she allowed the Post Office to steamroller over Postmasters like it did but I believe it is likely she will either request immunity or throw a few people under a bus when it comes to the inquiry! It appears she is attempting to dodge any blame. She said :-
'It is beyond doubt there are serious and unanswered questions as to the manner in which Sub Postmasters were wrongly prosecuted. All those involved in any way have a duty to those Sub Postmasters and their families, who were innocent victims, to ensure that this can never happen again.'
The current CEO Nick Read also made a statement :-
'There can only be closure for victims of the Horizon scandal by establishing a comprehensive picture of what went wrong. As I have said previously, Post Office will support and co-operate with any inquiry the Government sees fit to convene, and I welcome the announcement that Sir Wyn Williams’ inquiry will now move to a statutory footing. Post Office will continue to co-operate fully with Sir Wyn and his team.'
The BBC who really have the bit between their teeth on this scandal now, producing new pieces on an almost daily basis and are working on a new documentary to air regarding the scandal were quick to have a piece regarding the announcement which you can see below :-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57173296
The final bit of good news was that yesterday evening Sian Thomas the daughter of Noel Thomas (who was one of the early Sub Postmasters convicted) announced that Angelsey council was to honour his faithful service. He was forced to stand down as a councillor back in 2006 when he was wrongfully sent to prison for alleged theft. His conviction was one of the 39 overturned last month at the Court of Appeal and I am sure all of you that saw his emotional interview afterwards will agree he is a very genuine and humble man. I must commend the council and in particular the councillor who came forward with the idea, I know this will mean so much to Noel and his family. Read the story below by the BBC and his reaction from the Court of Appeal nearly 4 weeks ago :-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-57175453
Nick Wallis as always was on top of the announcement live tweeting the ministers statement in the house and writing a comprehensive blog on his site which you can read here :-
https://www.postofficetrial.com/2021/05/sir-wyns-statutory-super-powers-and.html
Also his update the previous day when the news broke on Sky about the expected changes to the inquiry can be read here :-
https://www.postofficetrial.com/2021/05/government-to-make-sir-wyn-williams.html
I made a comment after tweeting Nick to point him towards the breaking news story that :-
'Todays news is very welcome, it should not have ever come to this. The minister could have announced this last year so these people could be on their way to justice much sooner. We must ensure now that consultation is given on the terms of reference so that no stone is left unturned. It appears the pressure & dialogue with ministers has worked with many thanks to all the MPs, Lords and press that have really upped the anti since the Court of Appeal decision a few weeks ago.'
Don't forget if you haven't done so already to pre-order Nick's book on the scandal that is due for release later in the year and 10% of all revenue (not profit) will be going into a fund towards the affected Sub Postmasters. If you are not interested in the book and want to contribute towards his work, use the tip jar link on website and 25% of the proceeds will also be directed into the fund for Postmasters.
Pre-order book link - https://www.postofficetrial.com/2021/05/the-great-post-office-scandal-buy-it.html
Tip Jar link - https://store29806256.company.site/
As soon as I have more news to share with you regarding the inquiry I will let you know. For those of you who are new to the petition and have been asking for a background to the campaign if you follow this link here https://www.change.org/p/beisgovuk-post-office-scandal-statutory-inquiry-justice-campaign and scroll down to where it says UPDATES, then there is an option below the latest one to view all updates, this takes you all the way back to early 2020.