It was between 1999 and 2015 that the British postal service wrongly took around 1,000 of its employees to court. They were accused of theft after large sums of money were claimed to have disappeared from the company's accounts.
In fact, it was all about an IT error.
An investigation into the scandal now shows that thirteen of those involved may have taken their lives as a result of the incident, and nearly sixty people are said to have considered doing so.
Many of the wrongly accused ended up in personal bankruptcy after being forced to pay back the missing amounts to the postal service. Some were also given prison sentences. And several who were later acquitted died before they could clear their names.
The investigation also reveals that several prosecutions were initiated after the company began questioning the reliability of the IT system, and that "a number" of senior officials at the postal service were aware that the system could display incorrect numbers. The police are now investigating possible fraud.
The long-drawn-out story received widespread media attention after the TV drama "Mr Bates vs the post office" was broadcast in January 2024.
