In early 2020, I received a heartfelt message from one of my constituents, Pamela. She shared the distressing experience of losing her job at the Post Office several years ago after being falsely accused of financial impropriety. To add insult to the injustice, she was punished with 80 hours of community service for a crime she did not commit, and her good name and reputation was tarnished.
Pamela was one of over 700 victims of the Horizon Post Office Scandal, one of the largest miscarriages of justice in British legal history, which gained widespread public attention following the broadcast of the brilliant and incisive ITV drama 'Mr Bates vs the Post Office.' The drama told the distressing story of how a number of sub-postmasters like Pamela, who ran individual post office branches, experienced difficulties with the Horizon Post Office computer system, which was introduced from 1999. Errors showed false shortfalls on the accounts of postmasters, which the Post Office then demanded they cover. Between 1999 and 2015, the Post Office used information from Horizon to investigate and act against postmasters and employees. In the wake of these false allegations, sub-postmasters were suspended, prosecuted, bankrupted, many saw their health deteriorate or their family life break down, and some tragically took their own lives. In March 2020 I asked the Government how much longer victims like Pamela would be expected to wait for compensation but was given no definitive answer. After several more years of waiting, this January the Government finally announced that it would overturn the convictions of all those convicted in England and Wales. While this will not undo the historic wrongs victims have suffered, this is an important step to securing compensation and ensuring that justice is finally delivered for the victims. I welcome this step forward; however, it is shocking that people have still not been able to access the compensation they are entitled to and it shouldn’t have taken a television drama to jolt the Government into taking action. The Horizon scandal stands as a dark chapter in our history and Parliament must ensure this can never happen again. It is time to right the wrongs, provide closure to those affected, and rebuild the trust that has been shattered by this egregious miscarriage of justice. Recently, I was asked to contribute to Comment Central on the issue of Medical Cannabis, something which I've been passionate about since being elected. Find my article here: Medical cannabis barriers are failing patients | Comment Central or click 'Read More' below.
I was incredibly disappointed that during a recent interview, Dawn Bowden made a number of inaccurate claims relating to our communications regarding allegations of sexism and misogyny in the WRU.
Given the importance of the issue and the trust a number of whistle-blowers placed in me by sharing their stories, I feel it is important to clarify the communication between Dawn and I. Contrary to the statements in her interview, I provided her with contact details of several women across the WRU who were willing to speak with her about their experiences. I first raised concerns regarding sexism and misogyny at the WRU with Dawn in early 2022 and she indicated that she was happy to speak with any of the women involved. I followed this up on multiple occasions, sharing the contact details of the women affected who were willing to meet with Dawn, as well as making her aware of the emotional impact this was having on these women. This was prior to the release of the BBC Wales documentary and there is a record of all of this correspondence that I’m happy to share. I am still unclear as to why Dawn chose not to contact these women. Given the seriousness of the allegations I shared I remain extremely frustrated that my representations to Dawn were met with what I can only describe as apathy, and that seemingly it was only media interest that led to action. Whilst I am pleased that action has now been taken, I am again disappointed at a rather cynical attempt to rewrite history in order to hide political inaction. I’d ask Dawn Bowden to withdraw her recent remarks about me, to apologise to the women whose outreach she ignored, and to seriously consider her position. I stand by everything I have said publicly on this issue. |
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