Post Office Horizon IT scandal: 80 detectives throughout UK set to analyze

The legal investigation into the Post Office scandal is to be expanded, with 80 detectives set to be concerned.

The Metropolitan Police began inspecting potential offences, together with perjury and perverting the course of justice, in January 2020.

This is now widening to forces throughout the UK as a public inquiry into the scandal progresses.

Hundreds of sub-postmasters had been wrongly convicted of theft and false accounting due to a defective IT system referred to as Horizon.

Met Commander Stephen Clayman, who’s overseeing the investigation, mentioned officers understood the “widespread and devastating impact” of the scandal.

He added: “A team of detectives has been painstakingly working through millions of documents manually and with the help of specialist software, in parallel with the public inquiry. This is very time consuming and we cannot cut corners and risk missing evidence.

“Given the numerous scale of the investigation, it has been agreed by the National Police Chiefs’ Council that the subsequent section of the investigation will likely be a nationwide policing effort, coordinated by the Met, with the pursuit of justice at its coronary heart.

“We do not underestimate the seriousness of the task at hand and we are determined to carry out a full investigation with independence, precision and integrity.”

Read extra:
More than £1m Post Office ‘revenue’ might have come from victims
Scotland unveils plan to exonerate sub-postmasters

The Post Office and Fujitsu – which developed the Horizon software program – have been underneath police investigation for over 4 years following a referral from the Director of Public Prosecutions.

However, a remaining charging choice can solely be made as soon as the general public inquiry reaches its conclusions – and whereas hearings are set to conclude later this 12 months, a remaining report might solely be revealed in late 2025.

According to The Guardian, officers have requested the federal government for £6.75m to fund their expanded investigation.