‘Dozens’ are being investigated in post office scam

Police investigating crimes linked to the Post Office Horizon IT scandal are looking for “dozens” of potential suspects, but trials are not expected to start until 2027.

Police are investigating possible crimes by Post Office and Fujitsu employees and outside lawyers, after faulty Horizon software led to the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of subpostmasters who said money was missing from their Post Office branch accounts.

According to police, three suspects have already been interrogated as a precautionary measure and there are plans to interrogate others next year.

But no one will be charged until officials read the final reports from separate public inquiries, nearly 30 years after concerns were first raised.

Lee Castleton, sub-postmaster of Bridlington, North Yorkshire, which went bankrupt in 2004 after losing a two-year battle with the Post Office on Horizon, said: “I can’t understand why it took so long, I “I don’t understand why things keep ending…but you know, never give up, we’ll get there.”

The first media reports of Horizon problems were published by Computer Weekly in 2009. Alan Bates and his fellow sub-postmasters won the first of their two High Court victories in March 2019, eight years before the first criminal trial began.

About 100 officers across England and Wales are now working on what they have called Operation Olympos, which began in 2020. The investigation will be led by the Metropolitan Police in London, while Police Scotland, the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the National Crime Agency are also involved.

Commander Steve Kleiman, who is leading the investigation, said, “We think there are over 3,000 people affected in some way by Horizon. So this is very large and we have to deploy a commensurate number of officers.”

The first phase of the investigation will focus on those making “key decisions” on investigation and prosecution, looking at possible crimes of perjury and the serious crime of perverting the course of justice.

In the second phase the network will be broadened, potentially including senior post office officials.

Work is already underway to build some cases, and the police are in regular dialogue with the Crown Prosecution Service.

Police said the first trials may include cases at any stage, but the timescale and number of potential suspects may change as more evidence is gathered.

Authorities are already dealing with 15 lakh documents in the case and the number is expected to increase.

The investigation has also launched an online portal to allow sub-postmasters and others to submit evidence for the investigation.