Post Office hero Sir Alan Bates has married his long-term partner after a special invite from businessman Sir Richard Branson who even officiated the wedding. The couple, who have been together for 34 years but never married, had been welcomed to the billionaire businessman's private island in the Caribbean after a throwaway request from the campaigner. Suzanne Sercombe, who lives with Sir Alan in Colwyn Bay, reportedly had no idea about the wedding plans and wore a sun dress she had packed for the holiday, the Sunday Times reported .
Former subpostmaster Alan's story hit the headlines after ITV drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office was aired over Christmas and New Year and he was knighted in the recent birthday honours list. READ MORE: Post Office hero Alan Bates handed knighthood a year after snubbing King Charles READ MORE: Vaughan Gething makes major announcement ahead of next election The campaigner's story started when more than 700 branch managers were given criminal convictions when faulty accounting software made it look like money was missing from their sites. In September last year 86 of those convictions had been overturned.
He was one of more than 550 claimants who brought legal action against the Post Office, known as the group litigation, over the Horizon IT system between 2017 and 2019. Trial judge Mr Justice Fraser concluded that Horizon contained a number of "bugs, errors and defects" and that there was a "material risk" that shortfalls in Post Office branch acc.