The police investigation into the Post Office Horizon scandal could be delayed by up to five years unless it receives millions of pounds in additional funding and almost 100 extra staff, the senior officer leading the inquiry has warned.
Commander Stephen Clayman of the Metropolitan Police said the investigation team would need to expand from its current size to around 210 investigators in order to meet a target of submitting evidence files to prosecutors by late 2027 or early 2028.
Although the Home Office recently awarded the investigation a special grant of £2.8 million, Clayman said the total projected cost of the inquiry could reach £19.3m, leaving a funding gap of around £16.5m.
The Metropolitan Police investigation has been described as unprecedented in both scale and complexity, particularly as it is examining potential offences including perjury and perverting the course of justice linked to decisions made during Post Office prosecutions.
Clayman said the police investigation, codenamed Operation Olympos, is “hugely complex” and detectives already hold 8 million documents.
“This number is set to grow, with many of these documents needing to be forensically reviewed and considered,” The Guardian quoted Clayman as saying.
“Only by doing this can we piece together exactly what happened, establish who knew what and understand the role suspects may have played,” he said.
“And as we have always said, the threshold to bring criminal charges is high, so we must be confident that the evidence we present to the Crown Prosecution Service has the best possible chance of meeting this bar
“Through the many conversations we’ve had with sub-postmasters over the course of our investigation so far, we have been honest about these challenges and the scale of what lies ahead.
“This includes overcoming funding challenges at a time when police forces are already severely stretched. To meet our proposed timeline of submitting files for charging decisions in late 2027/early 2028, we need to double the size of the investigation team from 111 to 210.
“Without this, we risk our timelines being pushed back by as much as five years, which we know is unacceptable for those who have already been living with this for decades.”
“Many of these victims have been living with the impact of this for 24 years, some have already died and many more are reaching older age,” Clayman said. “Put simply, we do not have the luxury of time and must provide answers as soon as possible to those who so desperately deserve them.”
Police are expected to wait for the final findings of Sir Wyn Williams’ public inquiry into the Horizon scandal before making charging decisions. Part one of the inquiry’s findings, which focused on the human impact and on financial redress, was published last year. No date has yet been set for the release of the second part.
The Horizon scandal, widely regarded as one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British history, saw more than 900 sub-postmasters prosecuted between 1999 and 2015 after faults in the Horizon accounting system, developed by Japanese technology giant Fujitsu, falsely suggested financial shortfalls in branches.
Public attention on the scandal intensified following the broadcast of ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office in January 2024, prompting renewed political pressure and legislation aimed at clearing the names of wrongly convicted postmasters.