Sir Alan Bates says ‘baddies seem to be hiding’ in Horizon scandal

Sir Alan Bates says “all the baddies seem to be hiding” after settling his claim against Horizon for a reported seven-figure sum.

The 70-year-old former subpostmaster previously labelled the redress schemes for victims of the Post Office scandal as “quasi-kangaroo courts”.

Around 1,000 people were wrongly prosecuted and convicted throughout the UK between 1999 and 2015 as a result of Horizon, with a significant number contemplating self-harm.

Sky News reported Sir Alan’s final settlement may have been worth between £4 million and £5 million and he is now hoping attention will turn to securing criminal convictions against those found guilty of wrongdoing.

Speaking to The Sunday Times, Sir Alan said: “I don’t think we’ll get that (justice) for a long time yet. All the baddies seem to be hiding.”

The long-running battle for justice accelerated dramatically after ITV broadcast the drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, which highlighted the scandal.

Sir Alan had already turned down two counter-offers to his claim from the Department of Business and Trade (DBT) before settling.

“I’d run the full course,” he said. “I couldn’t appeal it any further. If I hadn’t accepted what they were prepared to give me, I wouldn’t have got anything. It was take it or leave it.

“You have to be realistic about these things. We’re getting on nowadays. We don’t need vast quantities of money, we need enough hopefully to tide us over.”

There are around 100 subpostmasters yet to settle their claims.

Sir Alan added: “I have to remind them, listen to your legal team and keep challenging it, but it’s not an endless process. Ultimately it is an ex gratia scheme, they don’t legally have to give you anything.”

He revealed he will be moving to a new house in Wales after receiving his payment and plans to write his memoirs.

“I need to put down on record what really did happen and how we managed to move the whole thing forward,” he said.

In a statement confirming his claim had been settled earlier this month, DBT said: “We pay tribute to Sir Alan Bates for his long record of campaigning on behalf of victims and have now paid out over £1.2 billion 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.”