The Great Post Office Trial

BBC Radio 4

4.7 (46)
TRUE CRIME

An investigation of the largest miscarriage of justice in UK legal history. It's the story of how the Post Office systematically persecuted honest people, and how a small band of victims fought back in the face of impossible odds.

17/11/2023

17. Facing the Music

The Post Office Horizon Scandal has been called the widest miscarriage of justice in modern British history, with the number of former Sub Postmasters whose convictions have been overturned now over 60. Those who suffered prosecution or financial ruin due to errors on the Post Office's Horizon computer system want answers. How could this have happened? Who is responsible? Continuing the series that has helped expose the scandal since 2020, Nick Wallis draws on interviews, documents and the extraordinary revelations spilling out of the ongoing public inquiry. For the first time, the public is getting real insight into what was really going on inside the Post Office. In Episode 17, Nick explores how senior Post Office lawyers and managers reacted in 2013 to the biggest challenge to the Horizon system yet. After MPs forced an independent investigation which identified bugs in Horizon, the Post Office publicly backed their computer system and reaffirmed their faith in the prosecutions they had conducted. But behind the scenes, all hell was breaking loose. Presenter: Nick Wallis Producer: Robert Nicholson Sound Design and Mixing: Arlie Adlington Executive Producer: Will Yates A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

15 min
16/11/2023

16. Closed Ranks

The Post Office Horizon Scandal has been called the widest miscarriage of justice in modern British history, with the number of former Sub Postmasters whose convictions have been overturned now over 60. Those who suffered prosecution or financial ruin due to errors on the Post Office's Horizon computer system want answers. How could this have happened? Who is responsible? Continuing the series that has helped expose the scandal since 2020, Nick Wallis draws on interviews, documents and the extraordinary revelations spilling out of the ongoing public inquiry. For the first time, the public is getting real insight into what was really going on inside the Post Office. In Episode 16, we hear how newly revealed documents show that the Post Office rejected even internal calls for an independent investigation of Horizon. They instead commissioned a deliberately one sided internal report which never even considered evidence of errors. This report was nevertheless used to justify dismissing Sub Postmasters' concerns and maintaining an aggressive prosecution strategy. Presenter: Nick Wallis Producer: Robert Nicholson Sound Design and Mixing: Arlie Adlington Executive Producer: Will Yates A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

15 min
15/11/2023

15. Breaking Lee Castleton

The Post Office Horizon Scandal has been called the widest miscarriage of justice in modern British history, with the number of former Sub Postmasters whose convictions have been overturned now over 60. Those who suffered prosecution or financial ruin due to errors on the Post Office's Horizon computer system want answers. How could this have happened? Who is responsible? Continuing the series that has helped expose the scandal since 2020, Nick Wallis draws on interviews, documents and the extraordinary revelations spilling out of the ongoing public inquiry. For the first time, the public is getting real insight into what was really going on inside the Post Office. In Episode 15, we hear how the Post Office ruined the life of Lee Castleton, a Sub Postmaster based in Bridlington who was taken to court over debts he says came from the Horizon computer system. New evidence reveals that the Post Office failed to investigate Lee's claims of computer errors in depth before taking him to court, and shows that evidence that may have cast doubt on Horizon was known about but not provided at the trial. Presenter: Nick Wallis Producer: Robert Nicholson Sound Design and Mixing: Arlie Adlington Executive Producer: Will Yates A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

15 min
14/11/2023

14. The Prosecution Spree

The Post Office Horizon Scandal has been called the widest miscarriage of justice in modern British history, with the number of former Sub Postmasters whose convictions have been overturned now over 60. Those who suffered prosecution or financial ruin due to errors on the Post Office's Horizon computer system want answers. How could this have happened? Who is responsible? Continuing the series that has helped expose the scandal since 2020, Nick Wallis draws on interviews, documents and the extraordinary revelations spilling out of the ongoing public inquiry. For the first time, the public is getting real insight into what was really going on inside the Post Office. In Episode 14, we hear how the Post Office disregarded red flags about Horizon when it rolled the system out, and how flawed and incomplete prosecution policies set the stage for the mass prosecution of many innocent Sub Postmasters. Presenter: Nick Wallis Producer: Robert Nicholson Sound Design and Mixing: Arlie Adlington Executive Producer: Will Yates A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

15 min
13/11/2023

13. Inside the Machine

The Post Office Horizon Scandal has been called the widest miscarriage of justice in modern British history, with the number of former Sub Postmasters whose convictions have been overturned now over 60. Those who suffered prosecution or financial ruin due to errors on the Post Office's Horizon computer system want answers. How could this have happened? Who is responsible? Continuing the series that has helped expose the scandal since 2020, Nick Wallis draws on interviews, documents and the extraordinary revelations spilling out of the ongoing public inquiry. For the first time, the public is getting real insight into what was really going on inside the Post Office. Presenter: Nick Wallis Producer: Robert Nicholson Sound Design and Mixing: Arlie Adlington Executive Producer: Will Yates A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

15 min
14/07/2023

Bonus Episode: The Full Nick Read Interview

In this bonus episode of The Great Post Office Trial, hear Nick Wallis' full interview with Post Office CEO Nick Read - the first Post Office CEO to ever give an interview about the scandal.

30 min
27/06/2023

12. Nowhere Near Over

Nick Wallis has been investigating the Post Office Horizon scandal for more than a decade, revealing the true story of the Post Office's persecution of its own Sub Postmasters. A long campaign for justice has forced the launching of a wide ranging public inquiry, which started hearing evidence last year. The Post Office and the government have also agreed to run three separate compensation schemes to try and make things right. The inquiry is forcing extraordinary evidence to light. It implicates senior staff in stunning cultural failings. But even as this picture emerges, campaigners and politicians following the scandal are ringing alarm bells about how the Post Office is behaving now. Key people who are accused of covering up the scandal are still in their jobs, even as the Post Office claims to have turned over a new leaf. Post Office bosses recently generated fresh outrage by awarding themselves generous bonuses for helping the inquiry complete its work, despite the fact that the inquiry has only just started. Post Office CEO Nick Read has apologised and returned the bonus, after the inquiry rebuked the Post Office directly. And, as Nick Wallis explores the Sub Postmasters' fight for fair compensation, he discovers that many feel the Post Office is treating them now just as they have treated them throughout the worst of the scandal. In a new edition of The Great Post Office Trial, hearing from people at the heart of a fresh wave of revelations, Nick discovers a shocking truth - the scandal, even as it is being investigated by a public inquiry, is far from over. Presenter: Nick Wallis Producer: Robert Nicholson Executive Producer: Will Yates Sound Designer: Emma Barnaby A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

28 min
01/06/2021

11. The Reckoning

In a follow up to the ten-part series The Great Post Office Trial, Nick Wallis explores how campaigners for justice around the Post Office scandal have been continuing the fight, and reveals startling new details on the story which have emerged in court. Since the original series aired, the government has officially launched an inquiry, chaired by Sir Wyn Williams. After controversy over its initially limited powers and scope, it's been widened and given statutory powers. Some Sub Postmasters are also seeking further legal redress, and attempting to pressure the government to cover the Sub Postmasters' costs from the initial trial. The minister responsibe, Paul Scully, sits down for his first interview on the subject with Nick Wallis. As the potential cases of miscarriage of justice work their way through the Court of Appeal, Nick discovers revelatory new documents which cast fresh light on what was going on inside the Post Office as the scandal unfolded. And we hear newly emerged stories of more Sub Postmasters affected, as the full scale of the story becomes clear. Presenter: Nick Wallis Producer: Robert Nicholson Executive Producer: Will Yates A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

28 min

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4.7

out of 5

46 Ratings

Fantastic work

1 Apr

giornaliero_urbano

Excellent storytelling. This is so thoughtfully crafted and presented. My heart absolutely goes out to all the folks affected by the scandal. Shame on Post Office! Thank goodness the lid got blown off!
Literally a David and Goliath battle

17 Mar

Chello222

Fantastic job done by Nick Wallis and all who came forward. Without their honest stories and courage to come forward this podcast would not have been possible. The absolute farcicle bumbling of this Government dept against all of these postmasters is disgusting. Paula Vennells and all her cronies will forever go down in history as deplorable humans who destroyed lives and families.

An investigation of the largest miscarriage of justice in UK legal history. It's the story of how the Post Office systematically persecuted honest people, and how a small band of victims fought back in the face of impossible odds.