Alan Bates suggested the Post Office was “after me one way or another” as he admitted he was “annoyed” when his employment contract was terminated. The campaigner and former subpostmaster also told the Horizon IT inquiry on Tuesday 9 April that the company spent 23 years “attempting to discredit and silence me”. When asked how he felt upon receiving the letter terminating his contract with no given reason, Mr Bates chuckled and replied: “I was annoyed with them, to put it mildly, but I think it was partly pretty obvious they were determined to – they were after me one way or another.” He added that he felt the Post Office was making a “lesson” of his case.