The guests on BBC Breakfast were from England and Wales - but the faulty Horizon software was used throughout the UK.

Fiona Elliot, a sub-postmistress from County Tyrone, tells BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today the whole ordeal is still raw.

In 2005, Elliot and her husband bought their Post Office and shop in the village of Clady, but later had to pay accounting shortfalls of £6,000: "I kept putting the money in from the shop to the Post Office to keep it right but we never had a plus, it was always minus, the money was just disappearing in front of us."

Despite urging the Post Office to carry out an audit, she was suspended for weeks before the Post Office confirmed there would be no further action.

She was offered redundancy at a time when rural Post Offices were closing, and resigned in 2008.

In Scotland, the Scottish prosecution service became aware of potential problems with the Post Office Horizon IT system more than a decade ago. Only two convictions in Scotland have been overturned so far.

On 5 Live, we're now hearing from Janet Skinner, who was ordered to pay £11,000 and went to prison.

"I lost my house," she says, before describing the moment her conviction was overturned in April 2021 - calling it "surreal".

"If I could've bottled that day and kept it, it was like having a baby, honestly it was the most amazing [moment]," she says.

Skinner describes her glee finding out via social media because the court hearing feed was unclear.

"I had to keep refreshing [journalist] Nick Wallis's tweets ... [when the ruling came] it just caught my breath".

Image source, ITV

We're continuing to hear from some former sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses on BBC Radio 5 Live's Nicky Campbell programme.

This long-running story has been thrown back into the spotlight after ITV aired its recent four-part mini-series, titled Mr Bates vs the Post Office.

Tim Brentnall says the series helped humanise his and fellow sub-postmasters and postmistresses' plight.

Thomas Mackintosh
Live reporter

It was a powerful hour of television on BBC Breakfast - let's recap:

• Varchas Patel appeared on behalf of his father Vipin - who is unwell due to stress caused by his wrongful convction. Varchas said there were "wanted, dead or alive" posters put up in their area of Oxford during the scandal
• Tom Hedges, from Skegness, said his family overheard him being accused of "stealing pensioners' money"
• Scott Darlington, from Macclesfield, said he was told to plead guilty to reduce the risk being sent to prison - even though he knew he hadn't done anything wrong

• Post Office Minister Kevin Hollinrake said the government is "very, very close" to announcing how it will overturn wrongful convictions
• But Sally Stringer - who had to pay the Post Office £50,000 of her own money to make up a shortfall - demanded answers from Hollinrake, saying compensation needed to be speeded up
• Hollinrake referred to the ongoing Post Office Inquiry, being chaired by Sir Wyn Williams, and he expects it to report back by the end of the year
• All of the people in the studio believed former Post Office boss Paula Vennells - who yesterday said she would hand back her CBE - should also give back bonuses

Now let's bring you some lines from Nicky Campbell's 5 Live show.

Tim Brentnall says he has tried to control his feelings over the years, because it wasn’t sustainable to be as angry as he was.

“If I’d stayed that angry for the last decade, it would’ve overwhelmed me,” he says.

Scott Darlington agrees, saying he’s had to work hard to keep his feelings under control, describing the last few years as “an anxious time”.

Janet Skinner says she’s been angry at what she says is the government’s inaction on the issue.

“They could’ve moved forward years ago. They’ve known about it for years and years,” she says.

That's our coverage of BBC Breakfast wrapped up.

Some of the Post Office victims - Janet Skinner, Tim Brentnall, Scott Darlington, Alison Hall, Varchas Patel and Sally Stringer - are now speaking to the BBC's Nicky Campbell on Radio 5 Live.

You can also watch that by tapping Play at the top of this page. We'll continue to bring you the main highlights too.

MP's text to me highlights government dilemmapublished at 09:15 Greenwich Mean Time 10 January

09:15 GMT 10 January

Chris Mason
Political editor

The broad thrust is increasingly clear: the government wants to exonerate sub-postmasters en masse.

But privately, the anguish within government on all this is palpable. The awkwardness of Parliament treading in its muddy boots all over what is traditionally judicial independence.

That concern extends to backbenchers. One has texted me this morning saying there is a reason MPs don’t intervene in live legal cases and “face sanction if we try".

“The government is right to want to address the terrible Post Office injustice but a universal pardon will have ramifications across the political and legal system,” they add.

Politically, a decision has been taken that something that adds up to a mass exoneration - however it is formally described - is necessary in what ministers see as an exceptional circumstance of a huge miscarriage of justice.

But there is concern, within government and beyond, that one consequence of this could be some people who were genuinely guilty being exonerated - as well as many who were not.

• You can read more from Chris Mason here.

Image source, PA

On Breakfast, presenter Jon Kay asks those in the studio if former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells – who yesterday agreed to hand back her CBE – should also hand back bonuses and pensions.

All of the sub-postmasters raise their hands - and the same question is then put to minister Kevin Hollinrake.

He says he believes Vennells was right to agree to return her CBE, and says any further action should come from the ongoing inquiry.

“I think we need to go through due process,” he says, adding that “we don’t do trial by media”.

On Breakfast, Sally Stringer - who was not convicted, but had to pay back £50,000 of her own money - interrupts an answer from Post Office Minister Kevin Hollinrake by saying: "I want answers."

"This is one of the worst miscarriages of justice this country has seen," she says.

"I trust the inquiry to find the answers but I am also asking you, in an election year, what are you as the government are intending on doing about it.

"Most of the people who have suffered on this need their compensation."

Hollinrake says the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry, led by retired high court judge Sir Wyn Williams, will "not get in the way of compensation".

He adds: "In terms of individual and organisation responsibility it is our position that we let the inquiry do its work, identify those responsible and then impose sanctions on those responsible be it prosecutions or asking people to contribute to the taxpayers' bill for compensation."

Let's go back to BBC Breakfast, and questions for Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake - this time from Tim Brentall, whose story we mentioned a little earlier.

He asks what the government is doing to speed up victims receiving their compensation.

(The government announced last September that Post Office workers who've had wrongful convictions for theft and false accounting overturned - like Tim - would be offered £600,000 each.)

But nothing has happened, he says to Hollinrake. The minister responds by saying the £600,000 offer is an alternative to going down the route of a full assessment.

Hollinrake adds: "One of the things we're hoping to do, when we do make an announcement, is announce what we're doing to speed up things for the 555 as well."

For context: The 555 are a group of 555 sub-postmasters and mistresses who successfully challenged the Post Office over the accusations in the High Court in 2019.

They were subsequently not allowed to participate in the Post Office's historic shortfall scheme - and despite being awarded nearly £43m in compensation in 2019, the group's funds were swallowed up due to a "no win, no fee" agreement with Therium, the company which funded the litigation.

Government trying to get something announcement-readypublished at 08:52 Greenwich Mean Time 10 January

08:52 GMT 10 January

Chris Mason
Political editor

The arc of the political week often tilts towards the government machine sweating cobs to get something announcement-ready for a prime minister on Wednesday lunchtime.

Why? Because it is Prime Minister’s Question Time, and having something to say – words – is a shield for the flak that has been flying.

The choreography this morning is clear: the Post Office Minister Kevin Hollinrake is out and about – articulating what he hopes looks like enterprise and energy going on within government, but essentially articulating a holding position. He isn’t announcing anything himself.

But listen to his language. An announcement is "imminent".

And not just that. When Justin Webb on the Today Programme on Radio 4 just now asked Hollinrake about his likely attendance at a meeting today on this you’d expect him to attend, he wouldn’t commit to being there, as it “depends on duties in Parliament"

The official line from government is an announcement today is “possible” but “not definite”.

We brought you some lines earlier from Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake on BBC Radio 4's Today programme - he's now facing questions on BBC Breakfast.

Janet Skinner asks when the government is going to take control of the scandal, and why the Post Office has “the power to control everything”.

Hollinrake says the government is “very keen to take this out of Post Office hands”, although he says he cannot confirm that.

“But I’m keen to confirm this very, very shortly,” he says.

Scott Darlington, from Macclesfield, says he wanted to plead not guilty - but was advised to plead guilty as the Post Office "held all the cards".

"Because we couldn't get any information, the barrister said if you plead not guilty you're probably going to go to prison," he tells BBC Breakfast.

"It was in the newspapers that I was guilty. But I knew I hadn't done anything.

"It has taken all of these years to get to this point."

Now let's go back to BBC Breakfast.

Varchas Patel is appearing on behalf of his father, Vipin, who's too unwell to be there. He says his father's "standing in the community went" after his prosecution.

Vipin was charged with stealing in excess of £75,000 and convicted of fraud. He was given an 18-month suspended prison sentence in 2011, and now has PTSD and a heart condition.

Varchas says there were "wanted, dead or alive" posters of his father. A cross with the message "RIP Vipin" was even left outside their shop.

"There was intimidation," he goes on - explaining how residents held meetings about how to drive the Patel family out of their Oxford community.

Image source, PA Media

Let's step back from BBC Breakfast now to bring you lines from an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

The government is "very, very close" to announcing how it will overturn wrongful convictions, Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake says.

He says "there are still some issues we've got to resolve" but an announcement could "possibly" come as soon as today.

He also says the government is willing to pursue Fujitsu - the Japanese IT firm which designed the Horizon software - for compensation, if the ongoing public inquiry points the finger of blame at them.

Back now to Tom Hedges - who describes the impact on his daughter.

She was at work as an estate agent when some of her clients – who didn’t know she was Tom’s daughter – began speaking about that “awful man down at the Post Office who’s stolen all the pensioners' money”.

Tom says: "It’s worse for your family, than it was possibly for me."

More from Maria Lockwood, from Huddersfield, who says she is "glad the government is listening".

When the victims are asked if there should be more compensation, they all raise their hands.

Janet Skinner, from Hull, says: "The government have been made aware of this for years.

"They've done nothing and just sat back. The hype of social media has brought the story forward."

Up next, Tim Brentnall, who ran a Post Office in Pembrokeshire - until a £22,000 shortfall was discovered at his branch.

Like many others, he was advised to plead guilty and was given an 18-month suspended sentence, plus 200 hours of community service. He was eventually cleared in 2021.

He says his life was left "in tatters" - and his customers thought he was "a fraud".

Next, we hear from Sally Stringer, who ran a Post Office for nearly 20 years - she wasn't convicted but spent "a fortune" maintaining Post Office bank accounts where there was a shortfall.

"We need to have the moneys paid to the Post Office put back to the postmasters," she says.

We’re now hearing from Janet Skinner, Scott Darlington and Varchas Patel, who is appearing on behalf of his father who is ill.

Janet served three months in prison, and says it’s affected “everything of my life going forward for the past 16 years”.

Scott ran Alderly Edge Post Office, and was convicted for fraudulent activity. He says he couldn’t get a job for years, and suffered “awful stigma” in his community.

Varchas says his father was “wrongfully convicted”, and that his health has been “completely shattered” by the scandal.

Next up, we hear from Maria Lockwood who ran a Post Office in Huddersfield. She is speaking publicly for the first time. She tells us she had to pay back £30,000 to the Post Office.

Then, Alison Hall from West Yorkshire becomes emotional as she recalls her prosecution for false accounting. Her conviction was overturned three years ago.

Mohammed Rasul - who we covered earlier - had to wear a tag and was given a suspended sentence.

"I carried the shame and I refuse to carry it any longer," he says.