Post Office investigation could be delayed by five years, police warn

The national police investigation into the Post Office Horizon IT scandal could be delayed by five years unless it receives millions in extra funding, its commander has warned [1]. The probe needs 99 more detectives to meet its current timeline [1]. Commander Stephen Clayman said the investigation, Operation Olympos, currently has 111 detectives but requires the additional personnel to submit files for potential prosecutions by late 2026 or early 2028 [1]. The investigation is jointly led by the National Police Chiefs' Council and the Metropolitan Police Service, which has national responsibilities including leading counter-terrorism [6][1]. The operation faces a funding shortfall of £16.5m for this financial year, having received only £2.8m from the Home Office so far [1]. The scandal, described by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British history, saw the Post Office pursue thousands of subpostmasters for financial shortfalls caused by faults in the Horizon accounting software [2]. Between 1999 and 2015, more than 900 subpostmasters were wrongfully convicted, with about 700 prosecutions carried out by the Post Office itself [2]. The Metropolitan Police opened its investigation into personnel from the Post Office and Fujitsu, the system's developer, following a 2019 High Court ruling that Horizon "contained bugs, errors and defects" [2]. Clayman stated detectives are reviewing some eight million documents, with seven more suspects interviewed under caution this year, bringing the total questioned to 13 out of 53 individuals under investigation [1]. Seema Misra OBE, a sub-postmaster wrongly jailed in 2010, questioned the government's priorities: "How can the government spend hundreds of millions of pounds on lawyers dragging this out but it's different for the common people to get justice?" [1]. A government spokesperson called the scandal "an appalling injustice" and said requests for further funding were being considered [1].