Computer Weekly

• However, viewers might find themselves with one looming unanswered question as they watch: how could this persist, at such a scale, for so long?
• The efforts of Bates and others have been invaluable – but they are a tiny subset of the overall victims.
• By and large, most sub-postmaster victims did not speak out about the injustice they faced.

• This article is part of Conversation Insights
  The Insights team generates long-form journalism derived from interdisciplinary research.
• The team is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects aimed at tackling societal and scientific challenges.

Sub-postmasters told they were the ‘only ones’

• I was led to believe at this meeting that I was the only sub-postmaster who was having problems with shortfalls.
• It made me feel stupid that I was the only person who had these issues.
• I confirmed that I had not done anything wrong and asked again about issues with the Horizon system.
• I was led to believe at this meeting that I was the only sub-postmaster who was having problems with shortfalls.
• Being told they were the only one not only discouraged victims from speaking out, it also planted a seed of self-doubt in many of their minds.

‘Spat on, shouted at and shunned’

• While the drama focuses on the heartwarming story of Hamilton, who received an inordinate amount of support from her local community, most sub-postmasters were not so lucky.
• Our analyses of the public inquiry statements reveal the local stigmatisation and shame that many felt.
• There are vivid accounts of sub-postmasters being spat on, shouted at and shunned.
• Those who experienced a wrongful accusation had similar negative mental health outcomes as those who were wrongfully convicted.
• Our research leads us to believe these feelings of shame and experiences of stigmatisation discouraged people from speaking out about the injustice.

Victims were unable to defend themselves

• Imagine that, tomorrow morning, you walk into work and are called into your line-manager’s office.
• They accuse you of something and tell you to gather your personal items as you are being sacked.
• This is the nightmare reality that sub-postmasters who were accused of theft and false accounting often faced.
• As one victim, Keith Macaldowie, recalled during the inquiry:
  They closed the office when they suspended me, so I couldn’t gain access.
• Overall, we found the lack of access to information that could prove the sub-postmasters’ innocence discouraged them from trying to speak out.

‘The Queen’s business’

• As one of the victims, Nicola Arch, told us:
  Working for the Post Office, it was the Queen’s business.
• The Queen acknowledges the Post Office — her face is on the stamps.
• In that era, everyone believed that it was a very prestigious company to work for, very respected … Everyone thought the Post Office could never be wrong.
• The Queen acknowledges the Post Office — her face is on the stamps.
• Despite individual appeals by sub-postmasters, Post Office managers did not challenge the leadership or organisation, and apparently believed their systems, including Horizon, were infallible.

The myth of ‘infallible systems’

• It also fuelled their self-doubt about whether this “perfect” system really could have any bugs in it.
• When injustices comes to light, often years after harm has occurred, we often hear people ask: ‘If this was going on, why didn’t they tell someone?
• Post Office employees have given evidence confirming that sub-postmasters were subject to “good character checks”.
• This alone should have raised concerns about these accusations, both inside and outside the Post Office.

For you: more from our Insights series:
COVID heroes left behind: the ‘invisible’ women struggling to make ends meet

The hidden danger of asbestos in UK schools: ‘I don’t think they realise how much risk it poses to students’

How to solve our mental health crisis

‘I’m always delivering food while hungry’: how undocumented migrants find work as substitute couriers in the UK

To hear about new Insights articles, join the hundreds of thousands of people who value The Conversation’s evidence-based news. Subscribe to our newsletter.
Grace Augustine receives funding from the British Academy / Leverhulme Trust for her research on the Post Office Horizon IT Scandal project. Jan Lodge receives funding from the British Academy / Leverhulme Trust for his research on the Post Office Horizon IT Scandal project. Mislav Radic receives funding from the British Academy / Leverhulme Trust for his research on the Post Office Horizon IT Scandal project.

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