Lawyers representing victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal say there is “more than enough evidence” for police to investigate senior staff members accused of covering it up.
Between 1999 and 2015, some 736 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted using data from an IT system.
Some went to prison for false accounting and theft, many were financially ruined and shunned.
But in 2019, the High Court ruled the Horizon software contained “bugs, errors and defects” and there was a “material risk” it had caused shortfalls in Post Office branch accounts.
Some 93 convictions have now been overturned. Some of those affected have died, including by suicide, before receiving compensation payouts that have so far totalled £138million.
Some of the accused postmasters have since claimed that senior staff at the Post Office either wilfully covered up dozens of bugs or “deliberately shut their eyes to the obvious”.
An independent public inquiry into the scandal was established in September 2020 chaired by Sir Wyn Williams.
Emails have shown that senior staff demanded the Post Office “grit its teeth and get on with prosecuting”.
Investigators’ bonuses were dependent on how much cash they recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Now Paul Marshall, a barrister who has represented postmasters, claims: “There is more than enough evidence for the police to open criminal investigations into several senior Post Office staff.”
Ed Henry KC told the inquiry: “Evidence has begun to reveal a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.”
The Post Office said: “We’re aware of the human cost of the scandal and we’re doing all we can to right the wrongs.”
Last week the government announced that £138m has so far been paid out to over 2,700 claimants across the three Post Office compensation schemes.
So far, 93 convictions have been overturned and the first 27 claims have agreed full and final settlements.
All 2,417 postmasters who have claimed through the original Horizon Shortfall Scheme have had offers of compensation.
Minister for Postal Affairs Kevin Hollinrake said: “It is important that everyone knows the truth about what happened, and that steps are being taken to right the wrongs of the past.”
Truth and accountability are one part of providing justice, and the other part is compensation.”
