Mr Bates actor Will Mellor criticises Post Office boss for ‘lack of humanity’

Will Mellor hit out at the former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells as well as other key figures involved who were ‘ruining other people’s lives that had done nothing wrong’.

The 47-year-old actor, who played one of the victims in the Mr Bates vs The Post Office ITV1 drama, called for Ms Vennells to finally tell the truth after the miscarriage of justice was thrust into the spotlight with the new programme.

He said in an interview with BBC Radio Manchester: “I don’t know how she slept at night.”

The actor, from Stockport, has also supported a petition calling for Ms Vennells to be stripped of her CBE.

Mellor plays sub-postmaster Lee Castleton in the four-part series, which tells the story of the long-running campaign to expose the Horizon IT system scandal, causing hundreds of Post Office staff to be wrongly accused of theft and fraud due to a faulty system.

Tragically, many were left bankrupt and some of the sub-postmasters have unfortunately since passed away.

Some of the victims of the scandal were sent to prison after being convicted of false accounting and theft. It is considered to be the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British history.

“I just don’t understand where the humanity is and where people like that sleep at night,” said Mellor. 

“So, yes, I 100% support that petition,” he added.

Mr Bates vs the Post Office has drawn a renewed interest in the scandal after airing on ITV last week, prompting the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to reconsider ways to finally compensate the wrongly accused postmasters.

Mr Sunak said the government was ‘keen to do everything we can because this was absolutely appalling’ and should ‘never have happened’.

Mellor said he is glad to see the drama has attracted the interest of politicians and officials.

Leader of the opposition Sir Keir Starmer told ITV News that compensation for victims is ‘overdue’.

A public inquiry into the scandal began in 2021 and was due to be completed by August 2022 however, it is still ongoing and set to be complete some time this year.

It is unknown exactly how many people have been affected by the Post Office scandal as it is understood that many have still not come forward. 

Ms Vennells made a public apology over the scandal in 2021. She said she is ‘truly sorry’ for the ‘suffering’ caused to the sub-postmasters who were wrongly convicted.