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Sir Alan Bates Settles Horizon Claim as Payouts Top £1.2bn

The campaigner is now pressing for criminal charges, with a nationwide police investigation under way.

Overview

  • The Department for Business and Trade confirmed Sir Alan Bates’s claim has concluded under the redress scheme, which has paid more than £1.2 billion to over 9,000 victims.
  • Reports suggest his settlement is between £4 million and £5 million, though the figure has not been officially confirmed.
  • Bates says those responsible should face prosecution and describes the redress process as a “quasi-kangaroo court,” adding that “all the baddies seem to be hiding.”
  • He previously rejected two counter-offers before accepting a final take-it-or-leave-it payment under the ex gratia scheme, which does not legally oblige the government to compensate.
  • About 1,000 people were wrongly prosecuted from 1999 to 2015 due to Horizon, roughly 100 claims remain unsettled, and the Met Police has more than 100 officers on a complex, ongoing probe.