Met police looking into Post Office scandal following ITV drama Mr Bates
The four-part series starring Toby Jones and Monica Dolan aired this week.
The Metropolitan Police has confirmed that it is carrying out an investigation into "potential fraud offences" committed in the Horizon IT scandal. The news comes after the release of ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office, which aired across four nights this week.
The series, which stars a wealth of British talent including Toby Jones and Monica Dolan, explores the staggering true story of one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British legal history, which saw hundreds of subpostmasters wrongly accused of theft, fraud and false accounting due to a defective IT system.
The series prompted a further 50 potential victims to seek legal advice regarding the scandal, with the BBC reporting that several former subpostmasters have made enquiries, according to lawyer Neil Hudgell.
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As originally reported by The Times, the Met released a statement in which it said it was "investigating potential fraud offences arising out of these prosecutions" including "monies recovered from subpostmasters as a result of prosecutions or civil actions".
The statement continued: "The Met is investigating potential offences of perjury and perverting the course of justice. These potential offences arise out of investigations and prosecutions carried out by the Post Office.
"The investigation was launched in January 2020 following a referral from the DPP [Director of Public Prosecutions]. Two people have been interviewed under caution. Nobody has been arrested."
Speaking about the 50 new enquiries, Hudgell said that the "majority were not prosecuted but lost their livelihoods, lost their homes".
He added: "There's a small handful of people who were convicted that have come forward, three in total at the moment, which is obviously a tiny number proportionate to those that are still out there."
In 2020, Tim Parker, then-chairman of the Post Office, said he was "sincerely sorry" on behalf of the company for its "historical failings".
"Post Office is resetting its relationship with postmasters with reforms that prevent such past events ever happening again," he added.
The Post Office also previously encouraged "people who believe they were wrongly convicted, for any reason, to consider an appeal".
Read more:
- What happened to Paula Vennells from Mr Bates vs The Post Office?
- What happened to Angela van den Bogerd from Mr Bates vs The Post Office?
- Mr Bates vs The Post Office star on how legal risks impacted script
Mr Bates vs the Post Office debuted on New Year's Day and was met with near-unanimous praise from both viewers and critics.
As well as Jones and Dolan, the four-part series featured a stellar ensemble cast including Julie Hesmondhalgh, Alex Jennings, Ian Hart, Lia Williams and Will Mellor – the latter of whom said during an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com that "we have to hold people accountable for what they've done".
Mr Bates vs The Post Office is available to watch on ITVX. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guideto find out what's on.
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Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
