The Post Office campaigner Alan Bates has been knighted in the king’s birthday honours in recognition of his role in exposing the Horizon IT scandal, one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history. The former post office operator and founder of the Justice for Sub-postmasters Alliance said he was accepting the honour “on behalf of the group” of branch operators and the “horrendous things that had happened to them.” Between 1999 and 2015, more than 700 post office branch managers were wrongly handed criminal convictions after faulty Horizon accounting software made it appear as though money was missing from their outlets.
Bates’ tireless campaign, highlighted in the ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office, led to the mass quashing of hundreds of convictions. Reacting to the honour, Bates said he hoped it would be “another string to my bow to help me go forward and get some finality for people”. Others recognised are the artist Tracey Emin, who is made a dame, and the political satirist Armando Iannucci , who receives a CBE.
The actor Imelda Staunton also becomes a dame and the cyclist Mark Cavendish is knighted. The former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown receives the highest award of companion of honour for his public service. Bates, of Llandudno, north Wales, had previously rejected an OBE while the former Post Office boss Paula Vennells still held her CBE.
She agreed to relinquish it after public outcry after the TV drama aired. Bates said he le.
