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Alan Bates, the former subpostmaster who brought the Post Office to its knees, became visibly emotional after being surprised with a luxury holiday by Sir Richard Branson.
Bates, 69, and his long-term partner Suzanne Sercombe appeared on Monday’s episode (8 January) of This Morning to discuss the Post Office scandal and ITV’s new four-part drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office.
In 1999, hundreds of subpostmasters and subpostmistresses were accused of theft, fraud, and false accounting after the Post Office’s IT system (Horizon, developed by Fujitsu) incorrectly reported cash shortfalls across branches in the country.
These accusations ripped apart people’s lives, with many losing their jobs and homes. At least four people died by suicide after being wrongly accused of stealing thousands of pounds.
During the segment on This Morning, Bates fought back tears after hosts Craig Doyle and Josie Gibson told him and Sercombe that Virgin Atlantic boss Branson was sending them on an all-expenses paid holiday to Necker Island for a well-deserved break.
Necker Island is Branson’s sprawling 30-hectare private island located in the British Virgin Islands. Branson extended the offer to Bates, 69, after reading the former subpostmaster’s interview in The Sunday Times on Sunday 7 January.
“If Richard Branson is reading this, I’d love a holiday,” Bates quipped, referring to his tireless quest for victims of the scandal to be properly compensated for the horrific ordeal.
Toby Jones as Alan Bates in the ITV drama
(ITV)
Gibson read out Branson’s response to Bates on-air: “Dear Alan, I did get a chance to read your moving interview in The Times and we’d love to offer you and Suzanne a well-earned holiday on Necker Island. I can’t think of anyone who deserves a break more.”
Bates had tears in his eyes as Doyle informed the couple they were also being gifted upper class return tickets to the holiday destination on behalf of Virgin Atlantic, as well as a Mediterranean cruise from Virgin Voyages.
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To this day, not a single Post Office executive nor Fujitsu employee has faced criminal investigation for their part in the what has been called the biggest miscarriage of justice in Britain’s history.
Since the release of ITV’s “blood-boiling” series, over half a million people have signed a petition demanding that former Post Office chief executive, Paula Vennells, lose her CBE over the company’s handling of the Horizon scandal.
Bates said the new TV show has made “a huge difference” to his long campaign for justice because “it does such a good job of exposing the suffering people have been through”. “I’m not surprised the whole nation’s been moved by it,” he said, during Monday’s TV appearance.
Sercombe, who has stood by Bates throughout his fight, recounted the ordeal the victims’s families were also subjected to, adding that hundreds of “lives have been changed” forever.
“Alan and I are, jointly, victims of this abuse by the Post Office and I have to say it reminds me that subpostmasters have families and all their families have been severely affected as well,” she explained. “It’s very important that they should be considered too. Lives have been changed – not just the postmasters but their entire families.”
