Horizon scandal inquiry finds at least 13 postmasters may have taken their own lives

Key Points

The long-awaited inquiry into the worst miscarriage of justice in British legal history has been published
Horizon scandal victims must get full and fair compensation, inquiry urges
Close family members of people affected by the scandal should recieve compensation
Horizon shortfall scheme claimants should recieve legal advice funded by the Government, retired judge determines
Fijutsu, the Post Office and the Government told to publish plan for restorative justice by end of October

A long-awaited independent inquiry has identified at least 13 postmasters who may have taken their own lives in the wake of the Post Office Horizon scandal.

The Horizon IT inquiry’s final report found 59 people who contemplated suicide attributable to their experiences with Horizon and/or the Post Office.

Ten of those attempted to take their lives, some on more than one occasion.

The probe’s chairman, retired judge Sir Wyn Williams, said he couldn’t make a definitive finding that there was a causal connection between the 13 people who died and Horizon, but he said he did not rule that out as a “real possibility”.

He said the Government and Post Office must agree on “full and fair” compensation for victims and their families.

The chairman said this should mean damages at the top end of the range and beyond the legal principles that sometimes prohibit compensation where evidence has been lost or destroyed.

The first tranche of the final report into the Post Office Horizon scandal was published on Tuesday.

Sir Wyn has issued 19 urgent recommendations to resolve issues with redress for those impacted.

More than 900 subpostmasters were wrongfully prosecuted between 1999 and 2015 in what has been dubbed as the worst miscarriage of justice in British legal history.

Many were wrongly convicted of crimes such as theft and false accounting after faulty Horizon software made it look as though money was missing from their accounts.

Subpostmasters’ lives were destroyed – with some bankrupted by legal action and sent to prison.

The various compensation schemes have been criticised by victims as unfair and difficult to navigate – processes which lead campaigner Sir Alan Bates has previously described as “quasi-kangaroo courts”.

The inquiry found that “the Post Office and its advisors have adopted an unnecessarily adversarial attitude towards making initial offers.”

The inquiry estimated there are currently 10,000 eligible claimants but that number is likely to rise by at least hundreds if not more over the coming months.

Among Sir Wyn’s recommendations were a call for claimants to the Horizon shortfall scheme to receive Government-funded legal advice and for close family members of people affected by the scandal to also receive compensation.

The Government should also form a public body which will create, administer and deliver schemes for giving financial redress to people wronged by public bodies.

There is an expectation the Governement and, where appropriate, Fujitsu and Post Office should provide a response to the recomendations by October 10.

Fijutsu, the Post Office and the Government have also been told to publish a plan for restorative justice by the end of October.

The first volume of the Horizon IT inquiry’s final report also covers the devastating impact on the lives of the scandal’s victims.

It has heard from 298 witnesses, held 226 days of hearings, and received 788 witness statements.

The 162-page report details the scale of the suffering endured by those affected.

People became seriously ill, struggled with mental health problems, struggled with addiction and faced financial implications such as bankruptcy.

Some were “driven to despair and suicide” and some were wrongly imprisoned.

‘If no one is held accountable, what’s it for?’

Ravinder Naga took the blame for the alleged theft of £35,000 from the Post Office to protect his mother when the money went missing.

He was ordered to complete 300 hours of community service and pay compensation in 2010 after offering a false confession to stealing money from the Post Office where his mother worked in Greenock, Inverclyde.

His conviction was overturned in August 2024.

“If someone comes and falsely charges you, rips your whole world apart, sends you to prison, convinces everybody you’re a thief, and then it gets proved that they’ve lied and they’ve destroyed your life for profit , what’s the justice system going to do for you?” he told STV News.

“What’s the government going to do for you?

“That’s what this is about. If there’s no one held accountable, the answer is zero, they’re going to do nothing for you.”

The inquiry was established in 2020, with a number of witnesses giving evidence on the use of Fujitsu’s Horizon system, Post Office governance and the legal action taken against subpostmasters.

In a previous statement addressing the compensation schemes, the Department for Business and Trade said: “This Government has quadrupled the total amount paid to affected postmasters to provide them with full and fair redress, with more than £1 billion having now been paid to over 7,300 claimants.”

Help and support is available now if you need it.

The Samaritans can be contacted any time, from any phone, free on 116 123, email at jo@samaritans.org, or visit samaritans.org to find your nearest branch. Details of other services and more information can be found on the NHS website here.