Post Office scandal: Somerset publisher backed 2021 book

Helen lacey (right) and her husband David Chaplin, decided to publish the book after following the story in Private Eye

A publisher has said she was compelled to print a book about the post office scandal in 2021 after being "horrified" by peoples' stories.

Co-founder Helen Lacey said Bath Publishing took a chance on what she thought was a "tricky" but "big story".

The small publishing house was the "only one willing" to take on the book at that time, author Nick Wallis said.

But Mr Wallis, who consulted on the ITV drama, said it was this medium that has had the most "extraordinary response".

The manuscript for his book, The Great Post Office Scandal, was sent to about a dozen publishers, the author said, but Bath Publishing were the only ones interested at that time.

'Bigger than people realised'

Ms Lacey said while she had heard about the Post Office scandal, she became aware it was "way bigger than people realised".

"When we got the manuscript from Nick in the middle of 2021 I can still remember being absolutely horrified," she said.

"When we read it it was a very tricky story, it's very difficult to get a handle of what went on.

"There were all sorts of cover-ups going on that we all know now."

Mr Wallis said he was "so grateful" the publisher, which normally printed factual law books, was "willing" and "determined" to get his book into the public domain.

Mr Wallis said he is happy the families are now being listened to and "believed"

This came two years before the success of the ITV series, Mr Bates vs The Post Office, and which Mr Wallis helped consult on.

"The public reacted and responded to the ITV series with such anger and outrage that the political class were forced into making some kind of response and announcing they were going to legislate to have all these convictions quashed," he said.

"It is simply the most extraordinary response to a drama in living history."

Mr Wallis had started his investigation in 2010 after being told by an interviewee - whilst he was working at for the BBC - that their wife had been wrongly imprisoned.

Davinder Misra (left) was the first victim to contact Mr Wallis

His research built on work from a previous investigation done by journalist Rebecca Thomson who then joined Mr Wallis in building a complete exposé.

"In 2010, Davinder Misra told me his pregnant wife had been thrown into prison for a crime she didn't commit," he said.

"He was all over the place but there was something about what he said.

"There was already an investigation in the public domain... and Davinder told me there was an organisation called the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance run by one Alan Bates.

"So within an hour of speaking with Davinder I was chatting to Alan who was telling me although what happened to Davinder and his wife Seema was obviously horrendous and one of the worst cases we'd come across, they were by no means alone, there were many others who had suffered in the same way."

Haunted by their stories

Mr Wallis said there are some "genuine horror stories out there" on what happened to "ordinary, lovely, law abiding, hard-working people", who just wanted to make a living but who were "steam rolled by the state".

"The story of Martin Griffiths is one that haunted me for many years and his wife had been reluctant to tell her story for very good reason," he added.

"To see that element in the TV drama was so powerful and I pay tribute to Gina and the Griffiths family for allowing it to be told."

Mr Wallis said he is happy the families affected are finally "totally vindicated and believed" but the "thing that still hangs over this is the broken families that the post office just trampled through".

Bath Publishing has donated money from book sales to the Horizon Fund and recently took on the Bath Half Marathon to raise more money for the fund.