More than 45 people are now being investigated over the mass miscarriage of justice which resulted in hundreds of innocent sub-postmasters being wrongfully prosecuted between 1999 and 2015.

Four of the seven suspects have already been questioned by the Metropolitan Police, which is leading the inquiry, called Operation Olympos. They did not identify the suspects but said the number of formal suspects would grow.

Injustice, Everywhere, After Years of Failure
At the center of the scandal is the Horizon accounting software, developed by Fujitsu, which led to incorrect shortfalls appearing in branch accounts.

The false records resulted in the criminal prosecution of over 900 post officers who in many cases were bankrupted, imprisoned, or professionally ruined.

In March 2024, the government approved groundbreaking legislation to clear victims. This was up to and including June 2 and totaled more than £1 billion in compensation has so far been paid out to more than 7,300 claimants across four separate redress schemes.

Expanding Investigation and Public Inquiry
Commander Stephen Clayman, who is leading the investigation, added the inquiry now encompasses six million documents and the number of people being contacted as part of it is expanding.

The second part of its probe will also look at wider offenses and investigate the decisions taken by senior Post Office and Fujitsu figures.

No charges will be brought despite the progress until the completion of Sir Wyn Williams’ public inquiry, the first findings of which are due in early July. Trials, if any, would not begin before 2027.

Clayman stressed that the current inquiry is not examining miscarriages of justice – wrongfully convicted individuals – but possible crimes, including perjury and perverting the course of justice, by those responsible for grinding out cases in the first place.

“This is very simple — it’s about the thousands of lives that have been devastated by this scandal getting justice,” he said.