King's New Year Honour for former Bridlington sub postmaster Lee Castleton

Mr Castleton featured in the ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office which told the story of one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British legal history.

Hundreds of innocent sub-postmasters and postmistresses were wrongly accused of theft, fraud, and false accounting due to a defective IT system.

Mr Castleton was forced into bankruptcy after the Post Office wrongly ordered him to pay more than £300,000.

Many of the wronged workers were prosecuted, some were imprisoned for crimes they never committed, and their lives were irreparably damaged.

He was played in the series by actor Will Mellor.

Mr Castleton is among 95 people from Yorkshire and Humberside to have received honours in HM The King’s New Year Honours List 2025, published today by the Cabinet Office.

Scarborough’s Cheryl Ward, group Chief Executive of Family Fund, was made a Commander for the Order of the British Empire for services to social care.

Family Fund is a charity for disabled children and their families.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “Each and every day, ordinary people go out and do extraordinary things for their communities.

“The New Year Honours List celebrates more of these unsung heroes, and I thank them for their incredible contribution.”

Anyone can nominate someone for an honour.

Visit https://www.gov.uk/honours if you know someone who has achieved fantastic things worthy of recognition.