The i Paper’s Northern Correspondent, Steve Robson, has won a public vote for the 2025 Making a Difference award.
The award, run by the News Media Association (NMA), celebrates agenda-setting investigations, campaigns and scoops.
Robson won with his investigation into the second Post Office IT scandal, which revealed wrongful convictions and decades of injustice.
The Government has since launched a compensation scheme for sub-postmasters who were wrongly pursued.
The NMA said the reporter and The i Paper had “exposed long-standing injustices affecting hundreds of sub-postmasters” and “can be proud of the difference they have made”.
NMA chief executive Owen Meredith said the reporting “shows how journalism can shine a light on critical issues and speak up for those whose voices might otherwise go unheard”.
The award forms part of Journalism Matters week, which aims to showcase the vital role of news reporting in our society. The public views shortlists and votes for the winner.
Through his reporting, Steve uncovered claims that the Post Office had been wrongly prosecuting sub-postmasters for years before the discredited Horizon IT system was first introduced.
Victims of faulty Post Office IT system Capture have criticised a new Government compensation scheme which they say will not cover their losses (Photo: Tom Pilston)As a result of his groundbreaking investigation, the Government has confirmed that a second Post Office IT system – Capture – was likely to have been faulty and may have led to wrongful convictions before Horizon.
It has since launched a compensation scheme for victims who lost money, livelihoods and the trust of friends and family due to Capture IT faults – while 34 convictions linked to Capture have been referred to the Criminal Case Review Commission (CCRC) – the miscarriage of justice watchdog – in a bid to have them overturned.
The primary source of the investigation was Steve Marston, 68, who was charged with criminal offences after Post Office auditors alleged £79,000 was missing from his Greater Manchester branch in 1997.
He maintains his innocence but claims Post Office investigators pressured him into pleading guilty to avoid prison.
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Despite raising the alarm about the system to The i Paper – Marston is not eligible for the Government’s Capture Redress Scheme because of his conviction. His fight for justice continues.
Steve worked doggedly to corroborate Marston’s story, including tracking down a paper copy of his indictment record from Preston Crown Court’s archives and cuttings from local newspaper coverage.
He also found more former sub-postmasters who were prepared to go on the record, including 73-year-old Liz Roberts, a sub-postmaster’s wife who was jailed for two-and-a-half years in 1999 despite insisting her innocence. She died just a few weeks after her story ran.
Steve’s reporting has had real world impact – last May, the Government appointed US firm Kroll to investigate the situation and in September, they confirmed what Steve’s reporting had already exposed: that there were faults with Capture, that the Post Office knew of these faults but prosecuted postmasters anyway – and that it even went as far as to ignore claims of faults when they were presented by defence lawyers in court.
Thanks to data obtained by Steve under FOI laws, we now know hundreds of postmasters may have been wrongly convicted for accounting issues related to Capture.
Steve’s reporting has been praised by MPs, including new Post Office minister Blair McDougall who said it was the Government’s priority to ensure “justice delayed doesn’t become justice denied” – praising The i Paper for highlighting injustice and “giving a voice to postmasters silenced by the institutions that should have protected them” – and also by postmasters and their relatives who believed they would never be heard.
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