Show packs a punch in explaining the appalling Post Office scandal

IT is a rare experience to leave a theatre genuinely enraged after a performance yet one of the overriding emotions that Post Office Scandal: The Inside Story creates is righteous fury.

Presented by journalist Nick Wallis, this show details the rollout of the apparently fault-free accounting system Horizon into sub-post offices around the country.

As it turned out, Horizon was far from fault-free; in fact, there were problems with it almost from the moment sub-postmasters began to use it.

Ordinarily, software and hardware malfunctions are fairly easy to clear up. In this case, however, the blame for accounting discrepancies was placed squarely on the shoulders of the sub-postmasters who had to use Horizon.

Over years, more than 700 people were wrongly prosecuted for false accounting, some were imprisoned and many lost their livelihoods, reputations and even lives.

Wallis was a superb host and negotiated the tale with considerable aplomb, laying out the complexities of the scandal in a way that was easy to understand.

There were gasps in the theatre when the details of cover-up were exposed but it was when Wallis delved into the personal stories of those affected by the scandal that the show really packs a punch.

The tale of Seema Misra who was sent to prison for theft while pregnant on the basis of faulty IT evidence caused a few tears in the audience, particularly when the impact on her family was explored.

Former Barkham sub-postmaster Pam Stubbs joined Wallis on stage to recount her experiences at the mercy of the Horizon system.

A strong and driven person, it became clear why she was one of the most important witnesses at the High Court trial.

It was these qualities that eventually exposed the scandal.

There was a number of key messages to take away from the show but perhaps the most important one was that solid investigative journalism is absolutely imperative when confronting injustice.

If it is combined with solidarity and strong-willed individuals prepared to take on big business, so much the better.

Sam Shepherd