Post Office victim Sir Alan Bates says 'battle still ongoing' as he is awarded honorary degree

  • Sir Alan Bates delivered a speech to Bangor University graduates.

A man who dedicated two decades of his life to campaign over the Post Office scandal has been awarded an honorary degree from Bangor University.

Sir Alan Bates, a former sub-postmaster from north Wales, said the honorary award added another "string to his bow" in the continued fight for justice.

He received the honorary law doctorate to recognise his fight to clear the names of hundreds of sub postmasters involved in what is considered to be the most extensive miscarriage of justice in UK history.

The Horizon Post Office Scandal received UK-wide recognition, and outrage, following the ITV drama 'Mr Bates VS The Post Office'.

The drama depicted the real life story of title character Alan Bates, and others, as they tried to uncover the truth behind accounting discrepancies during their time as sub-postmasters.

He was one of more than 550 claimants who brought legal action against the Post Office, over the Horizon IT system between 2017 and 2019.

More than 700 sub-postmasters were prosecuted by the Post Office and handed criminal convictions between 1999 and 2015, as Fujitsu’s faulty system made it appear as though money was missing at their branches.

"The cover-up can be worse than the crime," said Sir Alan Bates in a speech addressing the graduates. Credit: Prifysgol Bangor University

Addressing the students at the graduation ceremony, he said: "One of the things the Post Office scandal shows quite vividly is that things go wrong.

"But when things go wrong don't cover it up - because the cover-up can be worse than the crime."

Sir Alan had been running the post office in his shop in Craig-y-Don, near Llandudno, for years without any issue.

But shortly after the Horizon accounting system was introduced, inexplicable discrepancies began to appear.

Despite multiple complaints to the Post Office about the reliability of the new system, in 2003, Sir Alan's contract was terminated without reason.

The termination meant forfeiting his investment of over £60,000- which was a significant sum to their retail shop.

Sir Alan founded the Justice For Subpostmasters Alliance in 2009 which led to convictions against postmasters being quashed, and the launch of the ongoing Post Office inquiry.

However, he made clear in his speech that the "battle is still ongoing", and the fight for justice is "not over yet."

He added: "People need to take responsibility for their actions, and hopefully you'll do that when you go forward from here."

Those in the crowd could be heard applauding the former sub-postmaster who received a standing ovation following his speech.

Former Anglesey postmaster Noel Thomas, who was wrongly jailed because of the Horizon errors, was also in attendance.

Mr Thomas was also awarded an honorary doctorate for his role in the campaign at a ceremony earlier in the week.

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