At least 13 postmasters may have taken their own lives after being wrongly accused of theft based on evidence from the faulty Horizon IT system that Post Office and Fujitsu executives knew could produce false data, a damning public inquiry has found.
The Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry’s first volume, published Tuesday, reveals that a further 59 people told the inquiry they considered ending their lives, with 10 attempting suicide on at least one occasion. Other victims suffered alcoholism, mental health disorders including anorexia and depression, family breakup, divorce, bankruptcy and personal abuse.
Chairman Sir Wyn Williams concluded that this devastating human toll occurred despite senior Post Office employees knowing the Horizon system could produce accounts “which were illusory rather than real” even before it was rolled out to branches in 1999.
Maintained ‘Fiction’ of Accuracy
“I am satisfied from the evidence that I have heard that a number of senior, and not so senior, employees of the Post Office knew or, at the very least, should have known that Legacy Horizon was capable of error,” Sir Wyn stated in his 162-page report. Yet, for all practical purposes, throughout the lifetime of Legacy Horizon, the Post Office maintained the fiction that its data was always accurate.
The inquiry found that when Horizon was updated to Horizon Online in 2010, which also contained “bugs errors and defects” that could create illusory accounts, both Fujitsu and Post Office employees were aware of these flaws but continued prosecutions regardless.
At least 1,000 postmasters were wrongly prosecuted between 1999 and 2015, with approximately 700 of these prosecutions carried out directly by the Post Office using its unique powers. Others were forced to cover phantom shortfalls with their own money or had their contracts terminated.
Victims of ‘Wholly Unacceptable Behaviour’
Sir Wyn was unequivocal in his assessment of responsibility: “All of these people are properly to be regarded as victims of wholly unacceptable behaviour perpetrated by a number of individuals employed by and/or associated with the Post Office and Fujitsu from time to time and by the Post Office and Fujitsu as institutions.”
The inquiry heard harrowing evidence of the scandal’s impact. One victim, Martin Griffiths from Ellesmere Port, was forced to make substantial payments to cover apparent losses identified by Horizon, with his parents contributing their entire savings of £62,000 toward the phantom debt.
Ex-Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells, who oversaw numerous wrongful prosecutions, was in post during the period when Sir Wyn said bosses should have known Horizon was faulty. The inquiry’s final report on individual culpability is expected in coming months.
‘Disastrous’ Impact on Lives
Sir Wyn described the impact of false accusations as “disastrous,” noting that approximately 10,000 people are currently eligible for compensation schemes, with numbers likely to rise “by at least hundreds, if not more, over the coming months.”
“I do not think it is easy to exaggerate the trauma which persons are likely to suffer when they are the subject of criminal investigation, prosecution, conviction and sentence,” he wrote, adding that even being interviewed under caution by Post Office investigators “will have been troubling at best and harrowing at worst.”
The report singled out Post Office investigators’ behaviour, saying subpostmasters “will have been in wholly unfamiliar territory and they will have found the experience to be troubling at best and harrowing at worst.”
19 Key Recommendations
Sir Wyn made 19 recommendations calling for urgent government and Post Office action to ensure “full and fair compensation,” including:
• Defining compensation: Government and Post Office to agree what constitutes “full and fair” compensation • Ending adversarial attitudes: Stopping the “unnecessarily adversarial attitude” to initial offers that have depressed payouts • Standing body for redress: Creating a permanent institution to administer financial redress for those wronged by public bodies • Family compensation: Extending compensation to close family members who suffered “serious negative consequences” • Restorative justice: Establishing a programme bringing together victims with those who caused harm
Legal Support Criticism
The inquiry chairman was particularly critical of the lack of legal support for victims, calling it “indefensible” that the government refuses to pay for claimants in the Horizon Shortfall Scheme to obtain legal advice before deciding whether to accept compensation offers.
“I regard it as unconscionable and wholly unfair that claimants in the HSS are unable to obtain legal advice, paid for by the department, about whether they should opt for the fixed sum offer or assessment of their claims,” Sir Wyn stated. “Yet the department continues to resist this as if its life depended on it.”
Evidence showed that when initial compensation offers were rejected, second offers were often significantly higher, with differences of at least £100,000 in some cases. Of 1,500 unresolved cases in the scheme, 314 had been submitted as far back as 2020.
Government and Post Office Response
The Post Office responded with an apology: “The inquiry has brought to life the devastating stories of those impacted by the Horizon Scandal. Their experiences represent a shameful period in our history. Today, we apologise unreservedly for the suffering which Post Office caused to postmasters and their loved ones.”
The organization said it would “carefully consider the report and its recommendations.”
Despite the damning findings, the Post Office continues to use the Horizon system, though it states there have been “several versions” with “continued improvements.” Plans for a new system are in development, but the Post Office describes moving 11,500 branches to new technology as “a very large exercise.”
What Happens Next
This first volume focused on the human impact and compensation schemes. Sir Wyn’s conclusions about individual and institutional responsibility will come in subsequent reports, with what he described as findings about “wholly unacceptable behaviour” by specific Post Office and Fujitsu employees.
The scandal, described by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in 2024 as “one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in UK history,” was thrust into the public spotlight by the ITV drama “Mr Bates vs The Post Office,” starring Toby Jones as campaigning subpostmaster Sir Alan Bates.
With criminal investigations ongoing and compensation claims continuing to mount, the full reckoning for what Sir Wyn calls the Post Office’s maintained “fiction” is far from over.
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Image Credit:
Red Post Office van on the B4254, Pengam – Image by Jaggery, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
