by The drama of the Post Office scandal brought hundreds of people back on the news.
Mr Bates vs the Post Office, which is being broadcast four nights this week on ITV1, shows the true stories of sub-postmasters and sub-postmasters falsely accused of theft, fraud and false accounting.
Between 2000 and 2014, more than 700 staff were falsely prosecuted based on incorrect information from the Post Office’s Horizon computer system, installed and maintained by Fujitsu.
Some were jailed after convictions for false accounting and theft, and many were financially ruined, and some have since died.
Here’s what happened to those who appeared in Mr Bates vs the Post Office:
Alan Bates
Played by actor Toby Jones in the four-part drama, Alan Bates, 68, is the former sub-postmaster who was a leading figure in exposing one of the UK’s biggest miscarriages of justice.
He was at the heart of the campaign to expose the IT Horizon scandal and legal action was subsequently taken against the Post Office in his name.
His contract with the Post Office was terminated in 2003 when he refused to accept liability for alleged losses in his branch account in Llandudno, Wales, and he and his wife lost the £65,000 they had invested in the business.
Bates was always convinced that the deficits in his account were caused by a glitch in the new computer system, Horizon, used by the Post Office.
He continues to campaign for justice for those affected by the scandal, and refused an MBE in the New Year’s Honors list, saying the “job is not done yet”.
Jo Hamilton
Played by actress Monica Dolan in the show, Jo Hamilton, 66, is a former sub-mistress who was wrongly accused of stealing £36,000 from the Post Office at the village shop she ran in South Warnborough, Hampshire.
When Horizon’s computer system showed deficits on her account, she thought she had made a mistake and began paying it off using her own money, eventually re-mortgaging her home twice.
When the deficit increased to £10,000 in 2006, she was sacked and charged with stealing £36,000.
During her February 2008 court appearance, dramatic in the show, she accepted a lesser charge of false accounting, agreed to pay back the money and was sentenced to a community order.
She was later forced to sell her village shop and now works as a cleaner.
Hamilton met Bates at a meeting of postmasters and mistresses affected by the scandal in November 2009 – they became friends and fought together to seek justice.
Her own conviction was eventually overturned in 2021 but she continued to campaign on behalf of other wrongly convicted people.
Castle Lee
Played by actor Will Mellor in the show, Lee Castleton has run the Post Office in Bridlington, east Yorkshire, since 2003, but within a year the computer system revealed about £25,000 in discrepancies.
He called the helpline a total of 91 times in an attempt to resolve the issue because he correctly believed that the fault was with the Horizon system.
However, the Post Office took him to court, where Castle defended himself as he could not afford a lawyer. He was also ordered to repay the money and pay costs of £321,000, leaving him bankrupt.
He had to close his shop, sell his house and move into rented accommodation, and he and his wife had to move their two children to a new school because of bullying.
Earlier this year, Castleton said: “It completely changed our lives. It was horrible and horrible.”
Noel Thomas
Played by actor Ifan Huw Dafydd in the show, Noel Thomas, 76, from Anglesey, Wales, was wrongfully convicted of theft and false accounting.
He was falsely accused of taking £48,000 from the Post Office and jailed for nine months.
Thomas was disqualified as a councilor and his daughter had to sell her house to pay legal costs.
His conviction was overturned in 2021 but he continues to fight for justice and adequate compensation for those affected by the scandal.
Thomas spent his 60th birthday in HM Kirkham prison near Blackpool. Earlier this year, Thomas said he would reject an offer of £600,000 compensation.
Post Office scandal inquiry
A public inquiry is underway into the Horizon IT scandal, with postmasters claiming senior Post Office staff knew about the system failure or “turned a blind eye” to them.
Lawyers for those wrongly accused said the inquiry has produced enough evidence for police to investigate senior Post Office staff.
They want Sir Wyn Williams, the inquiry’s chairman, to forward files to the director of public prosecutions when the inquiry is completed next year.
It emerged last month that the Post Office has almost halved the amount it set aside for payments to those wrongly convicted, from £487m to £244m.
The government said 86 convictions have been overturned and £21m paid in compensation.
