Barrister Paul Marshall is acting for the majority of the victims in the Post Office scandal and spoke out about ongoing issues
The Post Office has been branded the closest thing we have to a “thoroughly corrupt public institution” by a man fighting for the rights of those caught up in the scandal. Paul Marshall, the barrister who is acting for the majority of the victims in the Post Office scandal, has spoken out as he continues to fight for justice.
He insists only one victim has achieved a final settlement and that it’s been five years of relentless struggle, resistance, and opposition from the government and the Post Office. He also says the victims are dying before they get compensation which he described as a scandal all on its own.
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Paul said: “The Post Office scandal is not only a scandal about the conduct of the Post Office. It’s also a scandal about the failure of the justice system…there is not the slightest institutional interest in examining why the courts and why the legal system failed so terribly and with such grievous, catastrophic consequences for those concerned.”
He added: “To express my own personal view, the Post Office as an institution is the closest that we have come in this country, to my knowledge, to a thoroughly corrupt public institution.”
Speaking on the British Scandal podcast, Marshall said he was currently working on 42 appeals going to the court of appeal to get justice for former postmasters or employees of the Post Office.
Between 1999 and 2015, more than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted after the faulty Horizon IT system indicated shortfalls in Post Office branch accounts. The scandal was made into a hit drama on ITV called Mr Bates vs The Post Office.
On progress so far Paul said: “In only one case have I, together with my colleagues, succeeded in achieving a final settlement of their overall claim, that rather gives you the flavour of it. It’s been five years of relentless slog, struggle, resistance, friction, obstruction, hostility and opposition from the government and the Post Office.”
He added: “The reality is that because of that sort of institutional inertia and paralysis and intellectual lack of vision and imagination, the poor victims are dying before they get compensation. That is a scandal all of its own. And it’s the consequence of, dare I say, both political and also legal ineffectiveness.”
In November it was reported that Post Office campaigner Sir Alan Bates had received a multi-million-pound compensation figure from the Post Office.
It came more than 20 years after he started campaigning for justice for victims of the Horizon scandal which led a group of 555 sub-postmasters launching landmark legal action against the Post Office.
Between 1999 and 2015, more than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted after the faulty Horizon IT system indicated shortfalls in Post Office branch accounts.
* The full interview with Paul Marshall is on the podcast series British Scandal: The Post Office Scandal. All episodes are available now on Audible and released weekly on all podcast apps.
