Paul Marshall in conversation about the Post Office Scandal
Public Law and Judicial Review, Commercial and Regulatory
In 2020, Paul Marshall was responsible for eliciting disclosure from the Post Office the now infamous “Clarke Advice”. The document is arguably the most important single document in the Post Office scandal. It provided the basis for the inquiry by Sir Wyn Williams being elevated by Parliament in May 2021 to a full statutory public inquiry, immediately after the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Hamilton and ors. v Post Office Ltd [2021] EWCA Crim 577 in April 2021. In an unprecedented judgment, the court quashed the convictions of 39 of 42 appeals referred by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, on grounds including that the Post Office had engaged in conduct likely to subvert the integrity of the criminal justice system or undermine public confidence in it.
Among the list of those publicly thanked on 13 July 2023 in the House of Commons for their role, Paul was the only practising lawyer mentioned by the Minister, Kevin Hollinrake M.P.
For those who don’t know what the Post Office scandal or the Public Inquiry are about – and possibly for some who do – this informal half-hour video conversation, recorded with the journalist Tony LeBlanc in early July 2025, in which Paul discusses some of the key themes, may be of interest.
The discussion does not touch upon the issue of the repeal by Parliament, on recommendation by the Law Commission (in part through lobbying by the Post Office), of statutory protections hitherto provided by section 69 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 against unreliable computer evidence being relied on in legal proceedings. That has had (and probably continues to have) disastrous consequences about which Paul has written: English Law’s evidential presumption that computer systems are reliable: time for a rethink? (available online here). (Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law July 2020 (JIBFL 35/7 p433)). That issue is the subject of a further interview by Tony LeBlanc with Alistair Kelman, who gave expert evidence to the Law Commission.
Paul’s article “Denialism” (February 2020), publication of which led to him being introduced to Lee Castleton, Tracy Felstead, Janet Skinner and Seema Misra, that he mentions in the video, is published by the Parliamentary APPG Fair Banking Group: Paul’s article on Lee Castleton’s civil case “The harm that judges do” (published by the School of Advanced Study, University of London).
Paul continues to act on behalf of a number of the most seriously affected victims of the Post Office.
