The key Post Office inquiry witnesses and what their evidence could reveal

The Post Office inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal returns on Tuesday with a blockbuster witness list including Alan Bates, Paula Vennells and Sir Ed Davey.

Over 15 weeks, Post Office bosses, government ministers and executives from the IT giant Fujitsu will face questions to get to the bottom of who was responsible for the scandal, in which hundreds were convicted of crimes they did not commit.

Under the watch of the chairman Sir Wyn Williams, the inquiry will try to unpick the boardroom decision-making that allowed dozens of prosecutions to go ahead each year between 1999 and 2015.

He will also consider the alleged cover-up, which postmasters claim began in 2007 and continued until 2019, when a High Court judgment blew the scandal open