No Criminal Trials Related to Post Office Horizon Scandal Until 2027, Say Police

Members of the Justice For Subpostmaster Alliance protest outside Aldwych House in central London, England, on May 24, 2024. Jonathan Brady/PA Wire

Any charging decisions and criminal trials related to the Post Office Horizon scandal will not take place until 2027, police have said.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) said on Wednesday that the duration of the process is affected by the “unprecedented” scale, complexity, and scope of the investigation.

The probe, Operation Olympos, was launched in 2020 and has been running in parallel with the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry, which began in February 2022.

The NPCC said that while the public inquiry is coming to an end, the criminal investigation is ongoing and “no charging decisions will be made until the final inquiry report is both received and thoroughly reviewed.”

The nationwide investigation has a 100-strong investigation team and involves forces from all four of the UK home nations. Its investigations continue to focus on offences including perjury and perverting the course of justice.

Investigators said that they are looking at a “significant number of people” from the Post Office, Fujitsu, and in the legal profession.

Last month, the Metropolitan Police Service said it had identified four suspects in the investigation, with the number expecting to rise.

Since 2021, three people have been interviewed under caution, with the most recent being in September. The number expected to be questioned is also expected to rise next year.

Thousands of Victims

Police believe that there could be more than 3,000 victims.

Commander Stephen Clayman, the gold lead for Operation Olympos, said the investigation’s goal is to secure justice for those impacted by the Post Office Horizon IT scandal, which saw hundreds of subpostmasters wrongfully prosecuted and convicted for theft, false accounting, and fraud, owing to faulty accounting software.

Clayman said: “The scale of the task ahead is unprecedented and I am confident we have an excellent team in place, with the support of cutting-edge technology to strengthen our search for information and evidence in amongst the 1.5 million-plus documents obtained and which will grow.

“I do know that if you take into account Post Office criminal and private prosecutions, civil claims and contract withdrawals, there are potentially thousands of victims who we are working hard to identify and build our database so that we can ensure we reach as many affected individuals as possible.”

The commander added that undertaking an investigation of this size, meticulously and methodically, “will take time.”

Inquiry Coming to a Close

A Post Office spokesperson said: “Post Office has cooperated fully and openly with the Metropolitan Police since early 2020 to provide whatever information it needs for its investigations.

“This has included wide-ranging requests for large volumes of data, all of which we have agreed to. This is in addition to disclosing almost 500,000 documents to the Horizon IT Inquiry.”

Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells arriving to give evidence on her third day at the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry at Aldwych House, central London on May 24, 2024. Jonathan Brady/PA Wire

The spokesperson said the Post Office will continue to cooperate with police while they undertake their investigations.

On Dec. 16 and 17, the inquiry will be hearing closing statements, after which it will continue gathering and analysing evidence before drafting the final report.

Wrongful Convictions

Between 1999 and 2015, more than 900 subpostmasters were wrongfully convicted for embezzling money from the Post Office based on incorrect data from the Horizon accounting system, developed by Fujitsu.

This was despite growing evidence that the IT system was faulty and was giving the misleading impression that money was going missing from branches.

A High Court judge ruled in December 2019 that Horizon contained a number of “bugs, errors and defects” and there was a “material risk” that shortfalls in branch accounts were caused by the IT system.

Former subpostmaster and lead campaigner Alan Bates (R) and his wife Suzanne Sercombe (L) arrive at the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry at Aldwych House, central London, on April 6, 2024. Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

The scandal has been described as one of the largest miscarriages of justice in British legal history and the previous government passed a law to exonerate and compensate those wrongly accused, some of whom were imprisoned.

Those who have had their convictions quashed are eligible for compensation from the government. As of Oct. 31, approximately £438 million has been paid to over 3,100 claimants.

PA Media contributed to this report.