People with no connection to the Post Office have told the BBC how they became engrossed watching the public inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal.
It became almost box office viewing – racking up more than 20 million views on YouTube – largely helped by the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office which brought the scandal to wider public attention.
It was a tale of ordinary people going about their working lives who were victims of a faulty IT system, with catastrophic consequences. Some were financially ruined, others went to prison. Some died while waiting for justice.
The sub-postmasters’ plight struck a chord with many, and some “superfans” avidly followed every step of the inquiry, both online and in person.
These “superfans” told the BBC what it was that gripped them and what they hope for now that the inquiry has come to an end, after 225 days of hearings involving 298 witnesses.
‘My boss gave me time off to go and watch’
Anthony Abdool thinks he’s one of the few “superfans” who hasn’t seen the ITV drama. Instead, he heard about the scandal on the news and would watch the inquiry online at home, finding it “profoundly moving and outrageous”.
“The more they got into it, the more outraged I became,” Anthony says.
That’s when he decided to attend and took time off work to go. Anthony, who is a freelance advertising copywriter, says he was “very lucky” his boss let him take a total of nine days as paid leave.
His colleagues were also supportive of his decision to attend and regularly asked him for updates.
“I think that reflects the wider importance that people attach to the inquiry and I can’t think of anything I’ve been interested in that united the public in such a way.”
Anthony would post on X while at the inquiry and made friends online with others interested in the story. He says he’ll be interested to see if they want to stay “Twitter mates or if we’ve reached the end of our journey”.
And now that the inquiry is over, he says: “Well, I’ll have to go back to work!”
‘It’s inspired me to look at other miscarriages of justice’
Isabella Thomas, 19, attended the inquiry for a week of work experience over the summer.
“I was truly humbled to be in the presence of so many incredible people, working to ensure justice is served to those who so deserve it,” says the second-year law and politics student.
The scandal, which saw more than 900 sub-postmasters prosecuted for stealing because of incorrect information from the Horizon computer system, has been called the UK’s most widespread miscarriage of justice.
“This experience inspired me to such an extent that I chose a module called ‘Miscarriages of Justice’ for my degree this year.”
After attending the inquiry in June, she carried on watching it online.
She says she has been left in awe by the bravery of the sub-postmasters themselves, many of whom have “lost homes, jobs, freedom and even lives, to keep fighting for themselves and others”.
Isabella is now following other inquiries regarding injustices but still thinks “the job is far from complete” when it comes to justice for the sub-postmasters.
‘I became obsessed. I listened on the beach’
Carrie, 63, first heard about the Post Office scandal on the news before watching the ITV drama.
“Once I realised the inquiry was available daily on YouTube, I was off! I was on holiday last February and found myself listening to the personal accounts of sub-postmasters whilst sat on the beach with earbuds.”
She also listened to a lot of the Fujitsu engineers who were responsible for Horizon because she wanted to understand more about the bugs and errors in the software.
“I became somewhat obsessed and backtracked to catch up with a lot of the videos I realised I’d missed from earlier in the inquiry,” says Carrie, who is retired.
She tried to watch the inquiry daily and became a fan of Nick Wallis, a journalist who has been reporting on the scandal for years, even attending one of his tour days and buying his book.
She says former sub-postmasters and campaigners Sir Alan Bates and Jo Hamilton are two of her “inquiry heroes”, as well as Jason Beer, the lead counsel for the inquiry.
Mr Beer has emerged as an unlikely cult hero thanks to his grilling of key witnesses at the inquiry.
“He was fantastic to watch,” says Carrie.
She is now looking forward to reading the report by inquiry chair Sir Wyn Williams, which is expected to be published next year.
“I would dearly like to see a number of individuals prosecuted, though I doubt this will ever happen,” she says.
‘I knitted Paula Vennells’
Abi Smith, 55, watched the inquiry online and says she became more drawn into it after hearing former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells give evidence.
Ms Vennells, who had not spoken publicly about Horizon for almost a decade, was quizzed over three days in May in the most anticipated appearance of the inquiry.
Abi, who works in education management, says she found it “quite bizarre” and “incredible” that a chief executive could claim “she didn’t know so much”.
She was so inspired by the events that she decided to knit a post box topper of Ms Vennells being questioned by Mr Beer.
“I just wanted to make a statement really,” she says.
Abi, whose grandad and aunt used to work for the Post Office, thinks the scandal touched so many people because “it’s always been a very trusted institution”.
She describes the events as a “tragedy of trust” and thinks it will take some time before anything else inspires her to knit a scene of such impact.
‘I watched from Australia. Jason Beer is magnificent’
As an expat living in Australia for the last 12 years, Paul Duckett initially watched Mr Bates vs The Post Office to “reconnect with my homeland”.
“But I was also compelled by concern for the people I lived among for most of my life,” he says.
The 56-year-old critical psychologist and university lecturer started posting about the inquiry hearings on his YouTube channel.
He is another member of the Jason Beer fan club. One of his videos, titled “What makes Mr Beer magnificent?”, currently has 80,000 views.
He says Mr Beer’s wit stood out. “He was sharp, quick to spot when answers were evasive or when witnesses passed off fantasy as fact. He used humour sparingly but effectively, often exposing the absurdity of certain explanations.
“If you asked Mr Beer, I suspect he’d attribute the inquiry’s success to the team around him and, in doing so, he’d demonstrate his own magnificence. That humility is one of his defining qualities.”
Although enthralled by the inquiry, Paul is glad it’s now come to an end and hopes “meaningful action” will be taken.
‘I felt compelled to paint some of the hearings’
Pey Kan Su first heard about the Post Office scandal when his wife mentioned the ITV drama.
After watching online and seeing “the extraordinary complexity of the whole thing”, he decided to attend the hearings in person, going a total of 29 times.
“It has been the most eye-opening but uplifting experience,” he says.
Pey Kan is a litigation solicitor, although he is currently not practising, and an artist. He always carries papers and pencils with him and attending his first inquiry hearing was no exception. He began to regularly draw the room while listening to the evidence.
“Drawing helps one to see. I have a few paintings of the inquiry hearings, the few that I felt I must do a painting of in order to express my thoughts about the witness and counsel.”
Pey Kan hopes the inquiry will leave lawyers with “food for thought”.
“I hope we never lose the moral clarity to stand up when we see the little guy being beaten down, and that the public will always back those who need it most,” he says.
Additional reporting by Emma Simpson and Esyllt Carr
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