In Horizon's Shadow: The True Story of the British Post Office Scandal

In Horizon's Shadow: The True Story of the British Post Office Scandal exposes one of the most shocking miscarriages of justice in modern British history. For over two decades, hundreds of sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses across the UK were wrongly accused of theft, fraud, and false accounting because of faults in the Post Office's Horizon IT system. Lives were ruined, reputations destroyed, and many people were left bankrupt, imprisoned, or worse - some took their own lives under the immense pressure. As a former sub-postmaster himself, Alastair Redman offers a unique perspective on this extraordinary scandal. Having run the Post Office in Portnahaven, Isle of Islay, for more than twelve years, his own branch was directly affected by the flaws within the Horizon system. Combining his personal experience with extensive research, he sheds light on how technological failings, institutional arrogance, and systemic cover-ups allowed this injustice to spiral out of control for so long. This book follows the timeline from Horizon's introduction to the growing outcry, the landmark High Court battles, and the eventual exposure of widespread wrongdoing. Alongside the facts, it explores the human cost of the scandal, giving a voice to those whose stories might otherwise have been forgotten. Accessible, authoritative, and deeply personal, In Horizon's Shadow is not only an account of what went wrong but also a testament to the determination of ordinary people who fought back - and a warning about what happens when powerful institutions go unchecked. AUTHOR: Alastair Redman is a Scottish writer and historian based on the Isle of Islay in the Inner Hebrides. He is also a councillor, with long-standing involvement in community representation and rural affairs. Before becoming an author, he worked for over twelve years as a sub-postmaster, managing the Post Office in Portnahaven on Islay. This experience, alongside his public service, has strongly shaped his interest in justice, governance, and the real-world impact of institutional decisions on ordinary people. His writing spans Scottish history, modern British history, and contemporary public affairs, with a particular focus on the Western Isles and other rural communities. He combines first-hand experience with detailed research to produce work that is accessible, factual, and grounded in lived reality. 20 b/w illustrations