NEVER have I watched such a distressing documentary drama series than the recent Mr Bates vs the Post Office, bringing to the attention of the British public the horror of twenty years Post Office prosecutions of 700 sub-postmasters and mistresses.

Hundreds of innocent lives wrecked and ruined, families losing their homes, driven into bankruptcy, treated by neighbours as felons, their children bullied at school because their mum or dad was a "thief". Lifelong reputations destroyed. 230 completely innocent postmasters and mistresses ending up in jail. One taking their own life.

And all this on the word of Post Office executives with no understanding that computers are fallible. With many millions of lines of code there is no computer that does not have multiple flaws. All the reasons computer manufacturers distribute correcting updates and patches every month.

But this was all lost on Post Office executives, telling all who queried their Horizon system it was "robust". Telling every postmaster or mistress distressed by shortfalls that they were "the only ones querying the system". With then hundreds of postmasters and mistresses prosecuted for theft, fraud, and false accounting.

Whole lives wrecked. How our world turns when those with not a clue how computers work take the blind view machines are infallible, responsible people running businesses, in their hundreds, are all lying. Computerised life wrecking.

It took then huge perseverance of postmaster Alan Bates, and many more postmasters and mistresses connecting together, to begin to take on the Post Office, over many years.

And now it's finally hit national attention, with great credit to the TV series producers, now, finally, politicians, including the Prime Minister, are paying attention. Finally police are looking into Post Office fraud offences. And about time to with you would hope full compensation for all who have suffered so terribly within months. Not more years.

Massive failure of anything like justice for so many. Taking in the end a major TV production to turn on British justice. And an election year.

Michael Hodder

Ashley Road,

Parkstone