Friday 26 February 2021

Press release: book deal

 PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

26 FEBRUARY 2021


Nick Wallis and Bath Publishing to publish definitive 

account of Post Office Horizon IT Scandal


Journalist Nick Wallis has teamed up with Bath Publishing to publish the definitive account of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal.


The decades-long affair has been described in the House of Commons as "one of the worst disasters in public life since the contaminated blood scandal" which "may well be the largest miscarriage of justice in our history.”


Nick has been following the story for more than ten years, fronting BBC investigations for Inside Out, The One Show and Panorama as well as being supported by crowdfunding. Nick also co-wrote the 2020 Private Eye Special Justice Lost in the Post and presented the double award-nominated ten-part BBC Radio 4 series The Great Post Office Trial.


The book’s working title is The Great Post Office Scandal. It is scheduled for publication in Autumn this year.


Helen Lacey, Editorial Director of Bath Publishing said:


I am delighted Nick has chosen us to help publicise one of the biggest scandals to hit our shores. The story is, quite frankly, shocking and the main reason why it is now being brought to the attention of the public is because of the hard graft put in by Nick.


Nick Wallis said:


Bath Publishing’s enthusiasm and determination to produce the definitive account of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal has been inspiring. Hundreds of Subpostmasters had their lives ruined and livelihoods taken away by institutions they should have been able to trust. This book will tell the whole story.


David Chaplin, Publishing Director of Bath Publishing said:


I have spent years publishing books that help lay people through the maze of the courts. When Nick raised the idea of working together I jumped at the chance. Although, as the reader will find out, the challenges faced by the Subpostmasters caught up in this scandal are of a different order altogether.“ 


Today Nick launched another crowdfunding campaign (his first was 200% funded within ten days) on his website www.postofficetrial.com to support his work covering the Court of Appeal process, the government’s ongoing Post Office Horizon IT inquiry and the Justice For Subpostmasters Alliance complaint to the Parliamentary Ombudsman.


For more information, interview requests or pics:


Nick Wallis - 07976 432174 or nick@nickwallis.com

David Chaplin at Bath Publishing - 01225 577810 or david.chaplin@bathpublishing.co.uk 


Editors note:


The Post Office Horizon IT scandal began at the turn of the century when the Post Office network was automated. A novel PFI-funded IT system called Horizon was rolled-out into the Post Office network. At the time, suppliers Fujitsu described it as the “largest non-military IT system in Europe”. Horizon didn’t work properly, and errors and discrepancies appeared in hundreds of Subpostmasters’ accounts. 


The Post Office held Subpostmasters liable for these discrepancies. Thousands were forced to pay the Post Office sums they didn’t owe, many were sacked. Some 800 people were prosecuted by the Post Office and many were sent to prison. 


In 2019, after a three year multimillion-pound legal battle, in which the Post Office was supported by the government, the Post Office admitted defeat and settled out of court. Dozens of criminal convictions are due to be overturned at the Court of Appeal in March. There have been suicides, mental health breakdowns and hundreds of family tragedies. No one has been held responsible for the false prosecutions. 


About Bath Publishing:


Bath Publishing was set up nearly 20 years ago. Their first book was The Family Court without a Lawyer: A handbook for litigants in person written by Lucy Reed, barrister at St John's Chambers in Bristol. Bath Publishing have continued to commission other books aimed at the non-lawyer, for those needing help at the most critical stages of their lives, whether they are divorcing, have just lost their job or are supporting an incapacitous member of their family. 


They believe everyone should have access to justice. It's not just about money - it's about transparency of the court system and the legal profession as a whole. Their slogan is Making Law Make Sense. There's more information about their range of titles at bathpublishing.com


About Nick Wallis:


Nick is a BBC-trained journalist who first came across this story in November 2010 when he was a breakfast show presenter at BBC Surrey. A cab driver told him his pregnant wife, a Subpostmaster, had been sent to prison for a crime she didn’t commit. Nick presented his first investigation on BBC Surrey in Feb 2011 and has been following the scandal ever since.