Horizon report lays bare years of denial by Post Office chiefs

Top brass knew computer system had deep flaws, inquiry concludes

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Post Office bosses should have known Horizon was faulty but “maintained the fiction that its data was always accurate” when prosecuting subpostmasters, the first tranche of a public inquiry’s final report has concluded.

Chairman Sir Wyn Williams said “a number of senior” people at the organisation were aware the system, known as Legacy Horizon, was capable of error up until it was changed in 2010, with a number of employees also aware the updated system, Horizon Online, also had bugs and defects.

A total of 59 victims of the Horizon scandal contemplated suicide with 10 attempting to take their own lives, Sir Wyn’s final report concluded.

He said there was a “real possibility” 13 people took their own lives as a result of the suffering they endured during the scandal.

Sir Wyn said around 10,000 people are eligible to submit compensation claims following what has been dubbed as the worst miscarriage of justice in British legal history.