Alan Bates becomes millionaire after Post Office payout

Sir Alan Bates has reached a seven-figure deal to settle his claim over the Post Office Horizon scandal.

The campaigner is understood to have settled his personal case with the Government after more than 20 years.

Sir Alan, whose High Court battle alongside 554 other sub-postmasters inspired an ITV drama, was previously offered a “take it or leave it” deal earlier this year.

Sir Alan previously said the offer amounted to 49 per cent of his original claim.

Sky News reported his final settlement may be worth up to £5 million.

A government spokesman said: “We pay tribute to Sir Alan Bates for his long record of campaigning on behalf of victims and have now paid out over £1.2bn to more than 9,000 victims.

“We can confirm that Sir Alan’s claim has reached the end of the scheme process and been settled.”

‘He shouldn’t have had to fight this long’

Jo Hamilton, a former sub-postmistress and fellow victim of the scandal, said it was “about bloody time” Sir Alan’s claim was settled.

Reacting to the news, Ms Hamilton told The Telegraph: “That’s the best news I’ve had in a long time, it’s just fabulous.

“I’m over the moon. He shouldn’t have had to fight this long and hard – it’s awful what they’ve done to him, awful.”

Between 1999 and 2015, more than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongfully prosecuted as a result of faulty Horizon computer software, which incorrectly recorded shortfalls in their accounts.

Earlier this year Sir Alan had urged his fellow scandal victims to take the Government to court over compensation delays.

Compensation schemes have been set up to provide financial redress for those affected, some of whom have died without receiving any payout.

Sir Alan previously described the compensation settlement process as a “quasi-kangaroo court”.

Writing in The Sunday Times earlier this year, he added that the Department for Business and Trade “sits in judgment of the claims and alters the goal posts as and when it chooses”.

Sir Alan also labelled a prior sum as “derisory” after being offered a figure amounting to just one-sixth of his claim.

In July, the first volume of a public inquiry into the scandal found it had driven at least 13 people to suicide.

The report outlined how the scale of suffering was even greater than previously realised.

Sir Wyn Williams, the chairman of the public inquiry, said Post Office bosses knew Fujitsu’s Horizon software was faulty but had “maintained the fiction” that a version of it “was always, always accurate”.

While Sir Wyn cannot determine criminal actions, a criminal investigation is already being conducted in parallel to the inquiry. In June, the Metropolitan Police said it was investigating more than 45 individuals, with seven formally identified as main suspects.

Sir Alan, who was knighted for his part in exposing the scandal, said the majority of applicants had received “substantially undervalued offers”, with some being offered just small fractions of their claims.

Hundreds of sub-postmasters are still awaiting compensation, despite the previous government announcing that those who had convictions quashed were eligible for payouts of £600,000.

Sir Alan and his wife, Suzanne, bought a post office and haberdashery in Llandudno, Wales, in 1998.

In October 2000, the Horizon IT system was installed and within months financial discrepancies were showing up.

Sir Alan refused to pay the shortfall after keeping scrupulous records, but had his contract terminated in 2003 as a result.

Unlike other sub-postmasters he was not prosecuted by the Post Office but still lost his £65,000 he had invested in the business.

He then spearheaded a campaign after revealing the story in Computer Weekly in 2009, alongside an initial six other victims.

[Source: Daily Telegraph]