The police investigation into the Post Office Horizon IT scandal could be delayed by up to five years if more resources are not made available, warned the lead officer.
Commander Stephen Clayman, national lead for Operation Olympos, said that the investigating team needs to be doubled in order to properly manage the “hugely complex case.”
“Detectives are currently holding eight million documents. This number is set to grow, with many of these documents needing to be forensically reviewed and considered. Only by doing this can we piece together exactly what happened, establish who knew what and understand the role suspects may have played.
“As we’ve 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 (CPS) has the best possible chance of meeting this bar.
“We are making significant progress. We’ve completed seven more suspect interviews under caution this year taking our total to 13 out of the 53 people currently under investigation. Each of these interviews involves meticulous examination of material and planning.
“We continue to work closely with the CPS and have submitted several files for Early Investigative Advice (EIA). This means prosecutors are already working with us to help build our case as quickly and effectively as possible.
“However, we cannot underestimate the task in hand. 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.
“We recently received a Home Office Special Grant of £2.8m which goes some way to supporting our costs, but the reality is that we urgently need additional and sustained funding to meet our projected budget of up to £19.3m for 2026/27 and beyond.”
This update came following a meeting with the victims of the Horizon software issues.
”Our ongoing priority remains to deliver justice for victims and families affected by the Post Office Horizon scandal. We met with victims to provide an update on our investigation, outline the progress made so far and explain some of the challenges we are facing.
“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. 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. The realities, however, are that our investigation remains hugely complex.”
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