Post Office hero Alan Bates honoured with knighthood after exposing Horizon IT scandal alongside cyclist Mark Cavendish and Daily Mail writer Niall Ferguson in King Charles’ birthday honours

Alan Bates was awarded a knighthood in the King’s Birthday Honors on Friday following his ground-breaking campaign for justice for hundreds of wrongly convicted postmasters.

The former subpostmaster was honored along with former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, artist Tracey Emin and actress Imelda Staunton, and hundreds of community heroes.

The list celebrated charity fundraisers and activists alongside celebrities and sports stars, including knighthoods for cyclists Mark Cavendish and Mail writer Niall Ferguson, and a damehood for fashion designer Anya Hindmarch.

The top honor went to Mr Brown, who said he was ‘somewhat embarrassed’ to be made a Companion of Honor and would prefer to recognize ‘unsung local heroes’.

Perhaps the most popular award was a knighthood for Mr Bates, whose legal battle against the Post Office was dramatized ITV earlier this year.

Alan Bates was awarded a knighthood in the King’s Birthday Honors on Friday following his groundbreaking campaign for justice for hundreds of wrongly convicted postmasters

Sir Alan campaigned tirelessly on behalf of hundreds of postal workers wrongly convicted of fraud, while the Post Office covered up the real culprit: the new IT system

Alan Bates, pictured outside his post office in March 2000, played a crucial role in highlighting the problems with Post Office Horizon’s IT system.

Sir Alan, who had previously turned down an OBE while Post Office boss Paula Vennells still retained a CBE, said he was ‘honoured’ by the knighthood.

He heard about it when Ms Vennells gave evidence at the public inquiry into the scandal, which saw hundreds of postal workers wrongfully convicted of fraud while the Post Office covered up problems with the real culprit – the new IT system.

She was formally stripped of her CBE following the Horizon IT scandal, which has been called the biggest miscarriage of justice in British history.

Sir Alan insisted his knighthood was for services to justice on behalf of the hundreds of sub-postmasters affected by the scandal and the ‘terrible things that happened’.

He laughed off claims that he was a hero but said he had received hundreds of messages of support, adding: “A lot of people seem to think I should get some kind of recognition for the work I’ve done for them or for them done. on their behalf.”

In the sporting world, cyclist Mr Cavendish was knighted and there were CBEs for fellow athlete Chris Boardman and former Liverpool footballer and Mail columnist Graeme Souness.

Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells has been formally stripped of her CBE following the Horizon IT scandal, which has been called the biggest miscarriage of justice in British history

Dame Jenny Abramsky, the first female editor of Radio 4’s Today programme, was made a Dame Grand Cross and retired Supreme Court judge Lord Etherton was made a Knight Grand Cross.

There were also damehoods for London Stock Exchange CEO Julia Hoggett, honor killing campaigner Jasvinder Sanghera and knighthoods for cancer researcher Professor Tony Kouzarides and HSBC chairman Mark Tucker.

Political satirist Armando Iannucci, actor Alex Jennings, novelist Monica Ali and broadcaster Alan Yentob each received CBEs.

Broadcaster Tania Bryer, BBC journalist Rory Cellan-Jones, poet and children’s laureate Joseph Coelho and Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera were awarded OBEs.

And there were MBEs for Duran Duran frontman Simon Le Bon, Countdown lexicographer Susie Dent, Coronation Street actress Shobna Gulati, Boney M singer Liz Mitchell, Strictly stars Amy Dowden and Rose Ayling Ellis, and M People singer Heather Small .

Sir Alan’s story was dramatized in the recent ITV series Mr Bates vs The Post Office starring Toby Jones

Hundreds of volunteers and community heroes were honored for their ‘outstanding work’, including veteran double amputee soldiers who climbed Everest and three fathers who raised more than £1.4 million for charity after losing their daughters to suicide had lost.

Gurkha ex-soldier Hari Budha Magar became the first double above-the-knee amputee to reach the summit of Mount Everest last year, 13 years after an explosion while serving in Afghanistan.

While Andy Airey, Mike Palmer and Tim Owen started Three Dads Walking in memory of their daughters – Sophie, 29, 17-year-old Beth and Emily, 19.

Charity fundraiser Harold Jones, 100, was the oldest recipient and there were eight awards for volunteers at the Royal National Lifeboat Institution as it celebrates its 200th anniversary.

Veterans charities were also honoured, including a CBE for former Royal British Legion Director General Charles Byrne.

Patrick and Karen McCourt, who raised 331 children, received British Empire Medals.

His journey from victim of an IT scandal to knight of the realm

Honored: Alan Bates rose from humble subpostmaster to modern folk hero

He rose from a humble subpostmaster to a modern folk hero after David and Goliath spoke out against the injustice of the Post Office IT scandal.

And now Alan Bates is also a knight of the realm.

A driving force behind the decades-long campaign to have colleagues’ names cleared and compensation, his status was further cemented this year when he was played by Toby Jones in the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which has been seen by millions. was viewed.

Born in Liverpool, Sir Alan studied graphic design in Wrexham before moving around the country taking on project management roles in museums and visitor centres.

The avid Morris dancer met his partner Suzanne Sercombe, 68, in 1990 at a clog dancing event in the Appalachians.

The couple were living in Yorkshire when they made the fateful decision to buy a post office and haberdashery in Llandudno, Wales in 1998.

The Horizon IT system was installed in October 2000 and within two months financial discrepancies emerged.

Sir Alan insisted it was not his fault and refused to pay the shortfall. His contract was terminated in November 2003 and although he was not prosecuted, he lost the £65,000 he had invested in the company.

The first sign of his transformation into a celebrated campaigner began in October 2003, when he wrote to his local newspaper that he would never give up his fight against the Post Office.

In 2009, Computer Weekly broke the story of the Post Office scandal, involving Sir Alan and six other victims, and founded the Justice For Subpostmasters Alliance.

Only 20 people showed up at the group’s first meeting, but it quickly grew into a high-profile campaign that eventually led to class action lawsuits against the embarrassed Post Office and the ongoing public inquiry.

Sir Alan, who cashed in his pension early to fund the campaign, lives with his wife and their black cat, Missy, in a modest semi-detached house in Colwyn Bay.

By Andrew Levy