03 January 2024 , 10:45
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There is enough evidence for police to investigate senior Post Office staff involved in the Horizon scandal, according to lawyers representing postmasters who were wrongly convicted.
Hundreds of people who owned and operated post offices were blamed for stealing money between 1999 and 2015 - with many jailed - due to glitches in a computer system. The ongoing public inquiry has seen postmasters claim senior figures knew about the failings but "shut their eyes".
The scandal - considered one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British history - is the subject of four-part ITV drama Mr Bates v the Post Office, starring Toby Jones as postmaster Alan Bates. Paul Marshall, a barrister representing post office operators in their ongoing battle for compensation, says he believes there's enough evidence for the police to consider prosecuting ex Post Office executives.
He told the Guardian: “On the face of it, the material is sufficient for the police to investigate whether, over a substantial period of time, the Post Office was engaged in perverting the course of justice or a conspiracy to pervert the courses of justice. In my view, the Post Office was engaged in a sustained attack on the rule of law itself.”
Legal teams for scandal victims reportedly want Sir Wyn Williams, chairman of the inquiry, to pass files to the director of public prosecutions once the inquiry concludes in 2025. Janet Skinner, a branch operator wrongly locked up for nine months, told the Times collating evidence for a possible investigation into former senior Post Office staff was a focus for her lawyers.
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The Post Office 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.”