The Metropolitan Police is set to deploy 80 detectives to investigate the Post Office Horizon IT scandal, despite expectations that any criminal prosecutions on the incident could take years to come in.
The scandal, which sparked widespread public and political outcry, saw innocent posties criminalised over false accounting due to faulty software supplied by Fujitsu, and was dramatised in Mr Bates vs The Post Office in January this year.
The police began investigating the matter in January 2020, working alongside specialist prosecutors.
A public inquiry into the incident is currently ongoing, and is expected to conclude later this year.
However, since the final report is not expected to be released until late next year, the Crown Prosecution Service likely won’t make a decision on charges until 2026.
With millions of documents to be assessed and a requirement to wait for the inquiry’s findings, it might be even longer until criminal trials begin.
Police have asked the government for a special grant of at least £6.75m to fund the operation, the Guardian reported, with operations split into four regional hubs.
Met commander Stephen Clayman, who oversees the investigation, said: “The Met began a criminal investigation in January 2020 focused on offences of perjury and perverting the course of justice.
“A team of detectives has been painstakingly working through millions of documents manually and with the help of specialist software, in parallel with the Public Inquiry.
“This is very time consuming and we cannot cut corners and risk missing evidence.
“Given the significant scale of the investigation, it has been agreed by the National Police Chiefs’ Council that the next phase of the investigation will be a national policing effort, coordinated by the Met, with the pursuit of justice at its heart.
“We do not underestimate the seriousness of the task at hand and we are determined to carry out a full investigation with independence, precision and integrity.”
Research last week found that over the Post Office has fallen from an 83 per cent trust rating among the public to just 69 per cent over the last year, below companies like Klarna and Revolut.