Birkbeck alumna who broke the story of the Post Office scandal is awarded an OBE
Birkbeck alumni have been recognised in the King's New Year Honours list.
A Birkbeck alumna and former journalist, who was at the forefront of exposing the Post Office Horizon scandal, has been recognised in the King’s New Year Honours List 2025.
Rebecca Thomson (MA Philosophy 2009) was awarded an OBE for services to justice because of her reporting on the scandal, which later saw hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongly prosecuted.
Rebecca first published her year-long investigation into the problems with the Post Office’s accounting software, Horizon, in 2009 for Computer Weekly after speaking with seven sub-postmasters.
Since then, and after Rebecca left the title, Computer Weekly’s journalists continued to investigate what is now known as the biggest single series of wrongful convictions in British legal history.
The scandal continues to dominate headlines, particularly after UK television drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office was aired last year.
Writing on LinkedIn, Rebecca said she was “extremely surprised and grateful” to be recognised on the New Year’s Honours List, alongside campaigning postmasters Seema Misra, Lee Castleton, Chris Head and Jo Hamilton. Fellow campaigner Sir Alan Bates was knighted last year.
Rebecca, now a senior consultant at Retail Economics, said: “I'm particularly glad the postmasters Lee Castleton, Jo Hamilton, Seema Misra and Chris Head continue to get the recognition they deserve, as well as Kay Linnell who supported them throughout.
“I'm still grateful for the support I had from ComputerWeekly.com editors at the time to get that first story published, because it wasn't easy.
“The postmasters have said that the fight goes on when it comes to financial redress - hopefully 2025 will bring some more positive news on that front, because they deserve it.”
Other alumni recognised in the New Years Honours list include Nicky Goulder (Cert HE, History of Art and Screen Media 2015), founding chief executive of Create.
She was awarded an MBE for services to disadvantaged people and to charity thanks to her tireless work to expand access to the creative arts for the most vulnerable people in society.
As part of the New Years Honours, dozens of new peers are also set to be appointed to the House of Lords, including Birkbeck alumna Luciana Berger, former MP for Liverpool Wavertree and current Chair of the Maternal Mental Health Alliance, and alumnus Claude Moraes OBE, former MEP for London and chair of the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee.