Police consider corporate manslaughter charges in Post Of...

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Police consider corporate manslaughter charges in Post Office scandal

A process of providing case file material to the Crown Prosecution Service is ongoing

Dan HaygarthMonday 01 December 2025 19:01 GMT

ClosePaula Vennells apologises to victims of Horizon scandal

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Police are considering corporate manslaughter charges as they investigate the Post Office Horizon scandal.

In an update given to victims, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) said there are now eight named suspects, with five having been interviewed under caution.

The NPCC added that there are now a total of 53 persons of interests involved in the investigation – widely reported to be the worst miscarriage of justice in British legal history.

No arrests have yet been made and a process of providing case file material to the Crown Prosecution Service is ongoing.

It said the investigation continues to focus on potential charges of perjury and perverting the course of justice, but it is now additionally considering corporate manslaughter charges.

Around 1,000 people were wrongly prosecuted and convicted throughout the UK between 1999 and 2015 as a result of Horizon, with a significant number contemplating self-harm and some taking their own lives.

The Independent reported in July that more than 13 people may have taken their own lives as a result of the scandal, according to the first tranche of a public inquiry’s report.

Police are now considering corporate manslaughter charges as part of the investigation (Lewis Stickley/PA) (PA Archive)

The inquiry chair, retired judge Sir Wyn Williams, said at least 59 people “contemplated suicide at various points in time” and “attributed this to their experiences with Horizon and/or the Post Office”.

He made the remarks in a report which laid bare the “disastrous human impact” for the post office workers wrongly accused of taking money from their branches because of faulty software.

Sir Wyn said “bankruptcies had occurred” and “marriage and families have been wrecked” over the scandal, adding: “The picture which has emerged is profoundly disturbing.”

The Horizon IT system is accounting software, designed by Japanese company Fujitsu, which saw accounts automated after subpostmasters entered their sales figures via a touchscreen.

Due to faulty software, subpostmasters started experiencing unexplained shortfalls in their accounts and were liable for losses under their contract with the Post Office, with subpostmasters being ordered to pay back the money that was lost.

But despite concerns being raised, Post Office prosecuted hundreds of operators for offences such as theft and false accounting based on the information from Horizon.

Many of those wrongly accused refused to stand down and after years of civil cases, a group of sub-postmasters led by the Justice for Subpostmaster Alliance won a High Court ruling in 2019.

That ruling, which found the Horizon system at fault for creating shortfalls in branch accounts, was then upheld on appeal in 2021 and resulted in the overturning of convictions for 39 subpostmasters.

The long-running battle for justice accelerated dramatically after ITV broadcast the drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, which highlighted the scandal.

The police’s Operation Olympos, which is investigating the scandal, started in January 2020.

Police previously said the ongoing probe is “unprecedented” in size, with potentially more than 3,000 victims and evidence including more than 1.5 million documents.

Any potential criminal trials linked to the investigation are not expected to take place until 2027.

Investigators previously said they are looking at “a significant number of people” from the Post Office, Fujitsu and in the legal profession.

A Post Office spokesperson said: “We would like to reiterate an unequivocal apology to every single person impacted by the Horizon Scandal. We recognise that, for some, the impact of their experiences has lasted over two decades and continues to this day. We continue to fully support the Police’s investigations and engage transparently with their requests.”