Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells (Image: PA)
Police are considering corporate manslaughter charges as the first year of their probe into the Post Office Horizon scandal concludes. Around 13 people are believed to have taken their own lives in connection after being wrongly accused of theft, a report from the Post Office inquiry said in July. Thousands more postmasters lost their livelihoods and savings after they were wrongly accused of stealing money from the Post Office where they worked.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council now says its investigation into the scandal is considering corporate and gross negligence manslaughter charges. It said they will continue to focus on potential charges of perjury and perverting the course of justice. The offence of corporate manslaughter ensures companies and other organisations can be held properly accountable for very serious failings resulting in death.
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Christopher Head, who became Britain’s youngest subpostmaster at just 18 in 2006, said: “It is an important step towards justice that those responsible for causing the harm to thousands of victims, their families and those who are sadly no longer with us are held to account.
“The Met investigation must go wherever the evidence takes them, even if that is right to the top of the organisation, including the internal and external legal advisers.”
Mr Head, who received an OBE for his campaigning, was suspended by the Post Office in 2015 after Fujitsu’s faulty Horizon IT system incorrectly showed an £88,000 shortfall at his West Boldon branch in Tyneside.
Labour peer Kevan Jones, a campaigner for justice for postmasters, welcomed the consideration of corporate manslaughter charges.
But he added: “Individuals still need to be held accountable for their part in ruining the lives of hundreds of decent hard-working people.
A general view of the company logo at the Warrington offices (Image: Getty Images)
“This should be a way of those individuals, including senior figures at the Post Office and Fujitsu, answering for their part in this scandal.”
An NPCC spokesman said: “The primary and sole focus remains the offences of perverting the course of justice and perjury.
“However, as was done with fraud offences previously, advice is being sought from the CPS around the offences of corporate and gross negligence manslaughter.”
It is unclear what the NPCC is considering in relation to corporate manslaughter.
In July, the Post Office inquiry’s report said at least 13 people are believed to have taken their own lives as a result of the impact of the Horizon scandal.
Inquiry chair Sir Wyn Williams revealed 59 others had contemplated suicide, including 10 who attempted to do so.
Sir Alan Bates has led the Horizon compensation fight (Image: PA)
Sir Wyn’s report highlighted the case of Martin Griffiths, 59, who stepped in front of a bus in 2013 after Fujitsu’s faulty software suggested his branch in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, had shortfalls of £100,000.
It also named Michael Mann, 51, an ex- Post Office manager in Stockport who took his own life in 2013 after being interviewed on suspicion of fraud.
Police previously said its probe is unprecedented in size, with potentially more than 3,000 victims and more than 1.5 million documents.
Any criminal trials linked to the probe are not expected until 2027.
The NPCC said there are eight named suspects, with five having been interviewed under caution.
It added that there are now a total of 53 persons of interest.
No arrests have yet been made and a process of providing case file material to the Crown Prosecution Service is ongoing. More than 900 subpostmasters were prosecuted from 1999 to 2015 after faulty accounting system made it look like they were swindling cash.
Lead campaigner Sir Alan Bates, who led 555 subpostmasters to victory in the High Court in 2019, has long called for those responsible to be prosecuted.
Investigators have said they are looking at “a significant number of people” from the Post Office, Fujitsu and in the legal profession.
The scandal is widely thought to be the worst miscarriage of justice in British legal history. It was highlighted by ITV’s drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office.
Sir Alan, who received a knighthood last year, agreed a multimillion-pound compensation figure from the Post Office last month.
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