Mr Bates vs The Post Office: The innocent Greater Manchester sub-postmaster whose life was destroyed by the Horizon scandal

For years, hundreds of innocent people running Post Office branches were wrongly accused and convicted of crimes they didn't commit. Errors caused by flawed computer accounting system Horizon saw discrepancies in the books at Post Offices across the country.

As a result, hundreds of sub-postmasters' worst nightmares became reality as they were hauled before the courts, falsely accused of theft, false accounting and/or fraud. In December 2019, a High Court judge ruled there was a 'material risk' that discrepancies in Post Office branch accounts were caused by the faulty system.

Since then, dozens of convictions have since been overturned. A public inquiry into the scandal launched in 2020 is ongoing. This month, a new ITV drama - Mr Bates vs the Post Office - has brought the issue back into the public eye.

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In Bolton, Mohammed Amir planned to run his two post offices until retirement, hoping to pass the businesses onto his children 'to ensure they had a stable future'. The sub-postmaster, who started his career working at his brother's branch in Westwood Park, Eccles, Salford, was initially attracted to the job because of its 'good reputation'.

He then took further steps into the firm, buying two Bolton branches - one in Little Lever in 2002, and a Farnworth branch in 2007. But Mr Amir began to notice small discrepancies in their accounts. He said it started off as small amounts, but began to get 'frequent' and at every branch.

"I suspected my staff, sometimes myself maybe not doing something right, but I had experienced staff with me who had been in the Post Office for a very long time and with the help of them as well I knew it