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The widow of a subpostmaster who was convicted as part of the Post Office scandal says she wants to know why the investigator ignored his “good record” – with her husband having been a police officer for 12 years before he started running the shop in Newcastle.

Marion Holmes spoke to Sky News as she prepares to see Robert Daily, the former Post Office investigator who brought criminal proceedings against her husband Peter, appear before the public inquiry into the scandal today.

Mr Holmes had been a subpostmaster at Jesmond Post Office for 13 years when he was accused of stealing £46,000 in 2008.

He was one of more than 700 subpostmasters who were prosecuted over claims they were stealing from the Post Office – but the missing money was actually due to errors in the Horizon software, which was developed by Fujitsu.

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Fujitsu boss apologises to subpostmasters

The ITV drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, which was broadcast earlier this month, has raised the profile of the inquiry and the injustice suffered by the hundreds of subpostmasters.

Mr Holmes’ case went to court in 2010, with the Post Office saying they would drop the theft charge if he pleaded guilty to false accounting.

The former police officer agreed and was given a three-month curfew, where he was only allowed to be out of the house between 7am and 7pm, as part of his community order sentence.

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Mr Holmes died of a brain tumour in 2015 aged 68 – six years before he was exonerated in April 2021.

Peter was exonerated in 2021
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Peter Holmes was exonerated in 2021

Asked by Sky presenter Sarah-Jane Mee on her show The UK Tonight what she wants to hear from Mr Daily when he appears at the inquiry, Mrs Holmes said on Monday: “Why he didn’t listen to the fact that Peter had a good record, an ex-policeman?

“Nobody believed him, I just wish somebody had just listened to him.

“It was obvious he wasn’t guilty… Nobody that knew Peter ever thought that he was guilty.”

Ms Holmes also remembered her husband’s “hurt” after seeing a newspaper article which read “ex-policeman guilty of false accounting”.

She continued: “I think that was what really hurt him because it was just there in black and white.”

Recalling the moment her husband first told her of the allegation against him, Mrs Holmes said: “That was like a bombshell.

“But we never thought that anything would come of it because we knew he was innocent.”

Read more:
Subpostmasters say Horizon system ‘still causing mystery shortfalls’
Fujitsu managed call wrongly-accused subpostmaster a ‘nasty chap’
Police probe to decide on Post Office scandal charges to take two years

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‘My business is failing’

Mrs Holmes also talked about the stress her husband was under while he was investigated by the Post Office and the police.

She said: “We knew there was something wrong… my daughter and I could hear him throwing up in the bathroom.

“But when we asked him what was wrong, he said ‘Oh, nothing. I was just coughing.'”

Asked what it was like for her husband, a retired police officer, to be convicted of a crime, Mrs Holmes said: “It just shut him down. Fortunately, the day that we came out of court, a friend said go on to the computer and type in ‘Post Office problems’.

“So straight away we heard of Alan Bates and the JFSA (Justice For Subpostmasters Alliance) and that weekend we had to go down there, they were having a meeting down at a solicitors down in Bedford… we already by then knew that there were several others (who had been accused).

“That helped us a lot because when we sat around the room and everybody told their story, they were almost all identical.”

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The real Mr Bates speaks to MPs

Mrs Holmes said she feels “sad” her husband wasn’t exonerated until after his death, adding: “But it can’t be changed, so there’s no point in dwelling on it.”

The widow also said she wishes Mr Holmes was here to see “what is happening now” since the ITV drama raised the profile of the miscarriage of justice, with the hundreds of Post Office scandal victims to be exonerated and compensated.

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Music video streamer ROXi lands backing from US broadcasters

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Music video streamer ROXi lands backing from US broadcasters

A music video-streaming service whose shareholders include the U2 bassist Adam Clayton will this week announce that it has sealed a management buyout after months of talks.

Sky News understands that the assets of MagicWorks, which trades as ROXi, have been sold to a new company called FastStream Interactive (FSI), with backing from two major US-based broadcasters.

Sources said that Nasdaq-listed Sinclair and New York Stock Exchange-listed Gray Media were among the new shareholders in FSI, with the launch of new interactive TV Channels in the US expected to take place shortly.

The deal, which has involved raising millions of pounds of new equity from new and existing investors, has resulted in previous creditors of the business being repaid in full, according to the sources.

Its search for funding from the US was seen as vital because of the programme to roll out its FastScreen technology.

Founded in 2014, ROXi described itself as the world’s first ‘made-for-television’ service, allowing viewers to stream millions of songs and download hundreds of thousands of karaoke tracks.

Its broadcast channels allow viewers to skip through content in which they have no interest.

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Simon Cowell, Kylie Minogue and Robbie Williams were among the prominent music industry figures who had previously been named as ROXi investors.

Financiers including Guy Hands and Jim Mellon are said to be part of the new ownership structure.

In response to an enquiry from Sky News, Rob Lewis, FSI chief executive, said: “The new technology, FastStream, will revolutionise broadcast TV.

“For the first time in history, consumers tuning into a normal TV channel will find they automatically start at the beginning of the programme, and that they are able to skip, pause or search, even though they are watching normal broadcast TV”.

Begbies Traynor Group, the professional services firm, and Rockefeller Capital Management advised on the process.

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Concierge firm founded by Queen’s nephew hunts buyer

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Concierge firm founded by Queen's nephew hunts buyer

Quintessentially, the luxury concierge service founded by the Queen’s nephew, is in talks to find a buyer months after it warned of “material uncertainty” over its future.

Sky News has learned that the company, which was set up by Sir Ben Elliot and his business partners in 1999, is working with advisers on a process aimed at finding a new owner or investors.

City sources said this weekend that Quintessentially was already in discussions with prospective buyers and was anticipating receipt of a number of firm offers.

Sir Ben, the former Conservative Party co-chairman under Boris Johnson, owns a significant minority stake in the company.

The Quintessentially group operates a number of businesses, although its core activity remains the provision of lifestyle support to high net worth individuals including celebrities, royalty, and leading businesspeople.

It also counts major companies among its clients and offers services such as organising private jet flights and performances by top musicians.

The sale process is being overseen by a firm called Beyond, although further details, including the price that the business might fetch, were unclear on Saturday.

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One insider said parties who had been contacted by Beyond were being offered the option to buy a controlling interest in Quintessentially.

This could be implemented through a combination of the repayment of outstanding loans, an injection of new funding into the business, and the purchase of existing shareholders’ interests, they added.

Quintessentially’s founders, including Sir Ben, are thought to be keen to retain an equity interest in the company after any deal.

In January 2022, newspaper reports suggested that Quintessentially had been put up for sale with a valuation of £140m.

Deloitte, the accountancy firm, was charged with finding a buyer at the time but a transaction failed to materialise.

Sir Ben, who was knighted in Mr Johnson’s resignation honours list, turned to one of Quintessentially’s shareholders for financial support during the pandemic.

World Fuel Services, an energy and aviation services company, is owed £15.5m as well as £3.5m in accrued interest, according to one person close to the process.

The loan is said to include a warrant to convert it into equity upon repayment.

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This year’s Sunday Times Rich List revealed
Gold spike means you should update your insurance
Cheapest pint in the UK revealed

Quintessentially does not disclose the number or identities of many of its clients, although it said in annual accounts filed at Companies House in January that it had increased turnover to £29.6m in the year to 30 April 2024.

The accounts suggested the company was seeing growth in demand from clients internationally.

“During the last year, we have not only renewed important corporate contracts like Mastercard, but have also expanded by adding new corporate clients like Swiss4 in the UK, R360 in India, and Visa in the Middle East and South America,” they said.

In its experiences and events division, it won a contract to work with the Red Sea Film Festival and to provide corporate concierge services to the Saudi Premier League.

It added that Allianz, the German insurer, BMW, and South African lender Standard Bank were among other clients with which it had signed contracts.

The accounts included the warning of a “risk that the pace and level at which business returns could be materially less than forecast, requiring the group and company to obtain external funding which may not be forthcoming and therefore this creates material uncertainty that may cast ultimately cast doubt about the … ability to continue as a going concern”.

This weekend, a Quintessentially spokesman declined to comment on the sale process.

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Superstar Adele joins backers of music royalties platform Audoo

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Superstar Adele joins backers of music royalties platform Audoo

Adele, the Grammy award-winning artist, has joined the list of music superstars investing in Audoo, a music technology company which helps artists to receive fairer royalty payments.

Sky News has learnt that the British musician and Adam Clayton, the U2 bassist, have injected money into Audoo as part of a £7m funding round.

The pair join Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney and ABBA’s Bjorn Ulvaeus as shareholders in the company.

Changes to Audoo’s share register were filed at Companies House in recent days.

Audoo, which was established by former musician Ryan Edwards, is trying to address the perennial issue of public performance royalties, in order to ensure musicians are rewarded when their work is played in public venues.

Mr Edwards is reported to have been motivated to set up the company after hearing his own music played at football stadia and in bars, without any payment for it.

Estimates suggest that artists lose out on billions of dollars of unaccounted royalties each year.

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London-based Audoo uses a monitoring device – which it calls an Audio Meter – to recognise songs played in public venues, and which is said to have a 99% success rate.

It has struck what it describes as industry-first partnerships with organisations including the music licensing company PPL/PRS to track and report songs played in public performance locations such as cafes, hair salons, shops and gyms.

“At Audoo, we’re incredibly proud of the continued support we’re receiving as we work to make music royalties fairer and more transparent for artists and rights-holders around the world through our pioneering technology,” Mr Edwards told Sky News in a statement on Friday.

“We have successfully reached £7m in our latest funding round.

“This funding marks a pivotal moment for Audoo as we focus on our growth in North America and across Europe, bringing us closer to our mission of revolutionising the global royalty landscape.”

Sources said the new capital would be used partly to finance Audoo’s growth in the US.

The latest funding round takes the total amount of money raised by the company since its launch to more than $30m.

Mr Edwards has spoken of his desire to establish a major presence in Europe and the US because of their status as the world’s biggest recorded music markets.

Adele’s management company did not respond to an enquiry from Sky News.

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