An inquiry into the Post Office Horizon scandal has found ‘more than enough evidence’ for police to launch a criminal investigation into senior staff, lawyers representing the victims have claimed.
The Post Office wrongfully prosecuted more than 700 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses between 1999 and 2015 for theft, fraud and false accounting based on information from a recently installed computer system called Horizon.
The scandal is considered the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British history, leading to the inquiry into what went wrong, and who was responsible.
Postmasters have claimed that Post Office senior staff covered up dozens of bugs and should be investigated for perverting the course of justice, The Times reports.
The inquiry has been shown correspondents which show how senior staff demanded the Post Office hurried up with prosecuting people, years after concerns were raised.
Seema Misra (pictured), 46, was sentenced to 15 months in prison in 2010 despite being eight weeks pregnant with her second child. Her conviction was quashed in 2021
Former subpostmasters Janet Skinner (left) and Tracy Felstead outside the Royal Courts of Justice, London in 2021. Their convictions were quashed
Investigators’ bonuses were determined by how much money was recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Act – and one postmistress was prosecuted for theft after her investigator reported there was insufficient evidence.
Lawyers want the chairman of the inquiry, Sir Wyn Williams, to hand over files to the director of public prosecutions when it finishes next year.
Paul Marshall, a barrister who has represented postmasters, told The Times: ‘Based on recent weeks’ hearings there is more than enough evidence for the police to open criminal investigations into several senior Post Office staff.’
Among the victims fighting for justice is postmistress Janet Skinner, who was jailed for nine months after being falsely accused of an accounting error, leading her to lose her family home.
Ms Skinner, who has a formal role in the inquiry, said evidence supporting a criminal probe into senior Post Office staff was a ‘focus’ for her team.
Another postmistress, Seema Misra, 46, was sentenced to 15 months in prison in 2010 despite being eight weeks pregnant with her second child. Both convictions – along with more than 30 others – were quashed in 2021.
In recent weeks, she has seen internal emails from investigators and lawyers which show the Post Office did not disclose key documents to her legal team.
This included information about a bug in the system impacting several Post Offices which had been found in the lead up to her trial as well as the Ismay report into Horizon.
Her 2010 trial became a test case for how reliable Horizon was, with her lawyers telling the court that the system could not be trusted.
Lawyers want the chairman of the inquiry, Sir Wyn Williams (pictured), to hand over files to the director of public prosecutions when it finishes next year
The Met Police, which is currently probing two ex Horizon IT experts for perjury, is also taking part in the inquiry and has access to key documents.
Three witnesses are said to have already been warned they do not have to answer questions in case they incriminate themselves, while another two ex employees are expected to receive the same warning.
Ed Henry KC also suggested that there could be enough for an investigation, telling the inquiry in written submissions that the evidence ‘has begun to reveal a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice’ between 2006 and 2010 and in the years after.
He claimed there was a ‘toxic corporate culture of secrecy and misinformation’ and that the Post Office ‘specialised in propaganda and policing its own people’.
An anonymous barrister warned, however, that the inquiry ‘won’t recommend people for prosecution unless there’s a reasonable prospect of conviction’.
In September, the Government announced that every postmaster wrongfully convicted in the Post Office IT scandal will be offered £600,000 in compensation to settle their claim.
Those who were convicted on the basis of evidence from the faulty Horizon computer system and had their conviction overturned will be offered the money.
In September, the Government announced that every postmaster wrongfully convicted in the Post Office IT scandal will be offered £600,000 in compensation to settle their claim. (File image)
The Mail has fought a ten-year battle for justice for blameless postmasters whose lives were ruined by the ordeal.
Many had their spotless reputations blighted by criminal records, while some suffered from depression or even took their own lives.
In 1999, the Post Office rolled out the Horizon accounting IT system, but faults in the software led to shortfalls in branch accounts.
Postmasters were required to ‘make good’ the discrepancies with their own money or face immediate suspension, dismissal or worse.
A Post Office spokesperson said: ‘We fully share the aims of the current public inquiry, set up to independently establish what went wrong in the past and accountability.
‘We’re acutely aware of the human cost of the scandal and we’re doing all we can to right the wrongs of the past as far as that is possible.
‘Both Post Office and government are committed to providing full, fair and final compensation for victims.’