Post Office scandal 'put village on the map'

Dozens of sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses were reunited at Fenny Compton Village Hall on BBC Breakfast on Monday

The fightback against the Post Office scandal put the village where it started on the global map, say locals.

Kate Carless, treasurer of Fenny Compton Village Hall, said the Warwickshire village has had “the whole world” visiting after the scandal was serialised in ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office.

The hall was where sub-postmasters met in 2009 to begin their mass campaign after being wrongly accused of stealing money.

Ms Carless told BBC Radio CWR it had been “absolute madness” in the village since the drama aired in January.

On Monday, dozens of sub-postmasters and their families took part in a BBC Breakfast special filmed at the village hall before the resumption of the public inquiry this week

“We have had the whole world here since it all came to light at the beginning of the new year," Ms Carless said.

“It’s definitely put us on the map here in Fenny Compton and I think the residents are happy."

Those who had been wrongly convicted in the Horizon computer software scandal first met in 2009 in Fenny Compton, because of its central location

Between 1999 and 2015, the Post Office prosecuted more than 900 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses for fraudulent activity, based on information from the Horizon computer system.

During the same period bosses at the firm, whose privatisation began in 2013, made a total of £19.4m over 24 years.

The 2009 meeting in Fenny Compton was attended by between 30 and 40 sub-postmasters and sub-post mistresses.

It sparked the creation of the Justice for Sub-postmasters Alliance (JFSA) campaign group.

.Ms Carless said: “I don’t think we realised what a focal point Fenny Compton would be and how it would impact visitors to the village.

“We haven’t been having bus-loads of visitors but we have been having people coming along and taking selfies in front of the village hall. It’s quite amazing really.”