This article contains spoilers for Mr Bates vs The Post Office episode 3.
Mr Bates vs The Post Office continues to unpack the shocking miscarriage of justice against hundreds of subpostmasters in this hard-hitting ITV drama.
In the third episode, Alan and Paula establish a mediation scheme for subpostmasters to enable them to apply for compensation. But the scheme arrives too late for Martin Griffiths, a struggling postal worker who dies by suicide after being pursued for alleged shortfalls of over £60,000.
However, the scheme soon proves unfit for purpose, and new problems arise both for the Justice for Subpostmaster Alliance and for Alan himself. Here's a full recap of what happened in Mr Bates vs The Post Office episode 3...
"Blood on their hands, now"
The episode opens at Martin Griffiths' post office in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire. On May 2, 2013, Martin is behind the counter at the post office waiting for a postal worker to pick up his deliveries. But as the driver leaves, the post office is robbed by two armed thugs, and Martin is injured in the process.
After the titles, we see Martin having a culpability interview. He says most of the lost funds (over £54,000) were recovered by the police, but, because he had the parcel hatch and the safe open, he's liable for over £7,000. What's worse, he later finds out he's being sacked, both because of the robbery and because he was under investigation for his Horizon shortfalls. Martin's wife, Gina, reaches out to Alan Bates, telling him that they've got nothing left to give and that they've never accepted the problems were caused by Horizon.
We then jump to another meeting at Fenny Compton, where we learn that more people are attending every time they have a meeting. Inside, a lady called Pam tells a story about how people didn't put the new electricity lines in properly before Horizon was installed (and when she took over her post office from her late husband).
At the meeting, Alan reveals that a mediation scheme is being established to enable anyone to apply to put the case forward for compensation, even those who were subject to criminal investigations and convictions. Although some attendants are apprehensive over whether they can trust the company, when he calls a vote on whether they should apply, the vast majority put their hands up.
Gina continues to talk to Alan about how Martin is faring; she says he's depressed, but won't talk to anyone about how he's feeling. One evening, Alan tells Gina to put him on the phone. Reluctantly, Martin accepts, but when Alan starts to tell him to fill out the forms for the mediation scheme, he walks away. Alan tells Gina to get him to fill out the forms.
Elsewhere, Bob arrives at Post Office HQ. He's expecting a meeting with Susan, but arrives to find out Angela will be his main point of contact going forward. At the pub, Bob tells Alan that Post Office Ltd has essentially taken away his ability to investigate; he also says they shouldn't go to mediation, but Alan says they have to go down this route because they can't afford other options, and convinces him to stay.
The night before the appeal against his dismissal, Gina tries to offer support to Martin, but he tells her just to leave him alone. Subsequently, we see his meeting play out, but it doesn't look like it went well.
On September 23, 2013, Gina gets up to make tea and sees Martin leaving early in the morning. She presumes he's gone to work early, but he drives away from the house and attempts to take his own life instead. Gina subsequently arrives at their post office to find the place still locked up, and customers waiting outside. Police officers arrive and ask to speak to her. Later, Alan hears that Gina was asked to consent to switch off her husband's life support, as he never recovered consciousness from the incident.
Mediation
We see Lee and his wife discuss what happened to Martin, and she comforts him when he breaks down into tears. Elsewhere, Angela visits Gina at home and promises that the Post Office will 'do right' by her, and as the first mediation meeting in London gets underway, she tells the group (Alan, Bob Rutherford, Kay Linnell, and several Post Office Ltd employees) that Martin Griffiths' case will be dealt with as a priority.
Paula Vennells is interviewed on the radio and recounts her plans to make the Post Office more profitable. As she leaves, the journalist asks if there's any truth in the Horizon allegations; she tells him that their system is robust and fit for purpose... but looks distressed by the answer she just gave.
We then see a snapshot of how the mediation scheme is going; Pam brings what she feels is concrete proof of issues with Horizon, but the employees on the other side of the table don't feel the same way. She gets up and leaves, and promises that she'll speak to anyone who will listen about her frustrations (despite their warning that she's already signed a non-disclosure agreement).
Alan has a meeting with James Arbuthnot MP, after having written a four-page letter of complaint about the process so far. James says it would have been useful to raise his concerns with Paula Vennells. Both of them admit they're frustrated by the process thus far, and Paula is brought in for a meeting.
Angela says she has 22 employees are working full-time on the process, but not a single case has been finalised at this point. Also, Paula earns James' ire when she says Post Office's lawyers have advised that anyone wishing to challenge their convictions has to do it via the criminal cases review commission... even though she had personally promised him that Jo Hamilton (who is one of his constituents) would be eligible for the scheme.
Subsequently, James Arbuthnot MP appears on the radio claiming he believes the Post Office has set out to sabotage their own mediation process and that he no longer trusts the organization. Whilst they're listening to his interview, Alan tells Suzanne that he thinks there may be potential interest in the case from the Parliamentary Select Committee. Paula Vennells is seen trying to gather her facts about Horizon before the meeting is called.
Fresh hope
The date of the meeting arrives: February 3, 2015. In it, Bob Rutherford states he has routinely been blocked from accessing the necessary documents for his investigation from the Post Office, and Paula finds herself being hounded for a simple yes or no answer as to whether she'll ensure the information is passed on.
After the meeting, Bob learns Gina has pulled out of the mediation process. It turns out that, after Angela had visited her, she'd been offered a sum of money in exchange for pulling out of the scheme.
On March 9, 2015, Angela tells Alan that they're bringing the mediation process in-house, to speed the process up now that they're 18 months down the line. Bob also phones Alan to tell him that he's no longer allowed to speak to him, and is being made to return or destroy every document he was given. Alan relays the news to Suzanne, and she tells him she's tested positive for cancer and is due for an operation.
We rejoin Alan and Suzanne in hospital in a recovery suite. When Suzane wakes up, Alan tells her he's considering giving up on the case against the Post Office, but Suzanne tells him he can't back down now. Quickly, Alan tells her of his latest plan: to get everyone to request every document the Post Office has on them.
The files arrive in the post at some point in the future but are heavily redacted. Jo notes to Alan that the memo from her investigator stating there's no evidence of her wrongdoing is also missing from the file.
On April 20, 2015, Jo and James Arbuthnot MP are on the radio. The Post Office once again is denying there's been widespread unfairness, but James says the damage to the subpostmasters' reputations and livelihoods is horrific, and Jo denies having done anything wrong but mentions that her lengthy contract (which she and many other JFSA members never received a full copy of).
James Hartley, a lawyer, overhears this interview in a taxi and reaches out to Alan to offer his help on their case. He says their contract is unfair and out of date and therefore could not necessarily be legally binding. He believes it's possible to raise the necessary money to fight the Post Office in court but says that the kind of funding available would require at least 500 people to be involved. Alan says he can make it happen.
The episode ends with Alan receiving a phone call in the car from someone who worked at Fujitsu. The whistleblower tells him that the Post Office are lying about remote access, as he said there was a whole room of people working on night shifts carrying out thousands of corrections on Horizon while the subpostmasters slept, and says the system was 'shocking'.
Mr Bates vs The Post Office is now streaming on ITVX and airing on ITV1 from Monday, January 1 to Thursday, January 4, 2024.
