Richard Roll is the real life Fujitsu whisteblower behind the character in Mr Bates vs The Post Office who lifted the lid on the faulty computer system.
He’s led an exciting life, starting out at the Royal Air Force (RAF), working as an IT specialist on the force’s attack systems, then as a high level worker at Fujitsu and eventually breaking away completely to become a successful podiatrist.
In the finale of the four-part ITV series, which released on ITVX on New Year’s Day and was broadcast tonight (Thursday, January 4), we see Richard, portrayed by actor Mark Arends, take to the stand, in 2019, to dish out the dirt on Fujitsu’s defective Horizon computers.
The computers were installed at every post office in the country in 1999. Ever since, tens of thousands of shortfalls of money were mysteriously logged at hundreds of offices across the country – for which the subpostmasters were held entirely responsible, and wrongly accused of theft and and false accounting.
The drama depicts the Post Office scandal in all its enraging detail, showing how subpostmasters were told “you are the only one” with many wrongfully convicted and given a custodial sentence. Some even took their own life, following The Post Office’s callous actions, as shown in the ITV nail-biter.
Richard’s life, before and after the scandal
Not much information is freely available on Richard, however case notes of “Horizon Issues”, Bates and others v Post Office in 2019 have delved into his life before and after leaving the employment of Fujitsu. And the judge even commented on his character, branding him “reliable and helpful”.
The judge, Peter Fraser, writes that Richard’s career had actually started in the Royal Air Force, where he joined in 1976 and left in 1989. During his time there, he worked as an avionics engineer. His responsibilities included working on mainframe computer systems, the software development team and even on aircraft control and attack systems.
(Image: ITV)
Afterwards, he worked in various development and support roles until his time at Fujitsu began in January 2001. Richard worked for the Japanese multinational for three years, until 2004, where worked at their Software Support Centre in Bracknell as an IT specialist. He said he was a third line support tech, dealing with issues deemed too difficult for technicians on first or second line support. In 2015, Richard told BBC’s Panorama he accessed Horizon data remotely to maintain the system.
After leaving Fujitsu, Richard broke away entirely from IT and enrolled in a BSc in Podiatry at the University of Southampton. He then worked for the NHS until 2011, eventually leaving to work for his own private practice. He was in that role, with his own clinic, when he took to the stand in 2019.
‘Reliable and helpful’
While he was on the stand, the judge writes that Richard said “data corruption was an issue in Legacy Horizon”. The podiatrist admitted his evidence “was, unsurprisingly, hazy in many respects,” since the events took place almost 20 years prior, but the judge accepted his evidence. The Post Office’s legal team even accepted that he was a “careful and precise witness,” writes the judge.
Judge Peter Fraser commented: “Notwithstanding the limitations on his evidence due to the passage of time, I found Mr Roll to be a reliable and helpful witness. I do not consider it was hazy in any important respects. I also found his evidence to be very important.”
Get breaking news in Yorkshire straight to your phone
Get all the latest big and breaking Yorkshire news straight to your mobile via WhatsApp by clicking here.
If you don’t like our community, you can leave any time. We also treat members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. Read our privacy notice here.
Read More: World News | Entertainment News | Celeb News
Yorkshire
