Yahoo News Timeline of Post Office scandal and when it started
Here’s how one of the UK’s worst miscarriages of justice involving hundreds of innocent sub-postmasters came to light
The Post Office scandal has played out over 25 years and its victims are still fighting for justice. More than 700 branch managers were convicted of false accounting, theft and fraud based on faulty Horizon software developed and maintained by Fujitsu, but fewer than 100 have had their convictions overturned.
Some were wrongfully sent to prison, while many were financially ruined and some have died, in several cases by taking their own lives.
Yahoo News UK takes a detailed look at the timeline of the Post Office scandal.
20 February 2024
The Post Office is being accused of acting illegally, after arguing in court that the Horizon system could not be accessed remotely - despite a 2016 investigation showing that it could be.
The BBC reported that then prime minister David Cameron's government was aware that the Post Office has ditched an investigation into the Horizon software that could have helped to exonerate wrongly accused postmasters.
The 2016 investigation looked through 17 years of Horizon records to find out whether the system could be accessed remotely, with the Post Office informing ministers that a probe was taking place.
Despite it reportedly finding instances in which the software was accessed remotely, the investigation was stopped as the postmasters began legal action, the BBC found.
11 January 2024
Messages handed in to the Post Office Horizon inquiry show that cash bonuses were handed out to investigators for each postmaster that was convicted. Gary Thomas, a long-term Post Office employee, claimed the incentive scheme was “part of the business“, and that everyone on the security team was “on a bonus”, thought to be worth thousands. Thomas says the bonuses influenced his work as an investigator.
Thomas was the lead investigator in the case of Julian Wilson, who was wrongly convicted of stealing £27,000 from his Post Office in Astwood Bank, Worcestershire, in 2008. Wilson died of bowel cancer in 2016 and had his conviction quashed after his death.
In an email exchange during the initial investigation, reported in The Telegraph, Wilson told a colleague that he was “pleased” to get documents relating to Wilson’s case. When asked why, he wrote back: “Because I want to prove that there is FFFFiiinnn no ‘Case for the Justice of Thieving Subpostmasters’ and that we were the best Investigators they ever had and they were all crooks!!”
10 January 2024
Rishi Sunak announces that Post Office branch managers who were wrongly convicted could will have their names cleared – possibly by the end of the year. Blanket legislation to exonerate sub-postmasters convicted in England and Wales will be introduced within weeks, the prime minister said. He said they were victims of “one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation’s history”.
9 January 2024
Paula Vennells, CEO of the Post Office between 2012 and 2019, announces that she will hand back her CBE.
She says: “I have so far maintained my silence as I considered it inappropriate to comment publicly while the inquiry remains ongoing and before I have provided my oral evidence.
“I am, however, aware of the calls from sub-postmasters and others to return my CBE.
“I have listened and I confirm that I return my CBE with immediate effect."
8 January 2024
A petition calling for Vennells to have her CBE rescinded reaches more than one million signatures. Prime minister Rishi Sunak says he would “strongly support” the Honours Forfeiture Committee if it chose to look into revoking her honour.
Watch: Sunak would support honours committee investigation into ex-Post Office boss CBE
5 January 2024
The Metropolitan Police says it is investigating potential fraud offences in relation to "monies recovered from sub-postmasters as a result of prosecutions or civil actions".
1 January 2024
The first part of Mr Bates vs the Post Office, a four-part drama depicting the events of the scandal, is broadcast on ITV, with the other three episodes following on consecutive evenings. It is reported that 50 more victims come forward after its broadcast.
21 December 2023
Post Office accounts show it has cut the size of its compensation pot for victims by almost half, down from £487m to £244m in the space of a year.
September 2023
The government announces that sub-postmasters who have had their convictions overturned would be offered £600,000 in full and final settlement.
July 2021
The government announces that wrongly convicted sub-postmasters will receive interim compensation of up to £100,000.
May 2021
After convictions are overturned the previous month, the government announces that the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry will be extended into a statutory inquiry, meaning witnesses can now be compelled to give evidence.
April 2021
Thirty-nine postmasters have their convictions quashed at the Court of Appeal. Judges said the convictions were "an affront to the public conscience".
January 2021
The Post Office Horizon IT non-statutory inquiry begins, led by Sir Wyn Williams, but the Justice for Sub-postmasters Alliance (JFSA) calls it a whitewash and refuses to take part.
December 2020
Six sub-postmasters convicted on the basis of Horizon evidence have their convictions quashed at Southwark Crown Court. They are the first to have their convictions overturned.
August 2020
The details of a settlement from December 2019 are made public, and it is revealed that sub-postmasters were awarded £58m by the Post Office. However, £46m went on legal costs, leaving only about £20,000 for each claimant.
July 2020
The body of postmaster Peter Huxham, 63, who worked at a branch in Devon that falsely recorded a £16,000 shortfall, is found at his apartment. It is believed he may have taken his own life. He was found guilty of fraud by misrepresentation in March 2010 and jailed for eight months, the ordeal causing his 22-year marriage to end.
January 2020
The Metropolitan Police launches a criminal investigation into potential offences of perjury and perverting the course of justice during the Post Office prosecutions. Two former Fujitsu witnesses are interviewed.
23 December 2019
Vennells apologises for the first time about the scandal, just two days after saying she would not say sorry to sub-postmasters. She says: "I am truly sorry we were unable to find both a solution and a resolution outside of litigation and for the distress this caused."
11 December 2019
Sub-postmasters announce they have reached an out-of-court settlement with the Post Office, although the company did not accept liability, making it a costs settlement not compensation.
February 2019
It is announced that Vennells will step down from her role as chief executive at the Post Office. She leaves the company with more than £400,000 in pay and bonuses.
December 2018
Vennells is given a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2019 New Year Honours for "services to the Post Office and to charity".
March 2017
A total of 555 claimants, headed by Alan Bates, brings a group litigation against the Post Office at the High Court. It is resolved when the Post Office agrees to pay costs.
April 2015
A confidential report by Second Sight describes the Horizon system as, in some cases, "not fit for purpose". It says there were about 12,000 communications failures each year and software defects at 76 branches. It said the original Post Office investigation had not looked for the cause of errors, instead accusing sub-postmasters of theft.
March 2015
It is reported that the Post Office had ordered Second Sight to cease its investigation one day before its report was due to be published, and to destroy all paperwork it had not handed over.
The Post Office says "there are no wide-scale problems with our computer system".
February 2015
Computerworld UK magazine reports that the Post Office refused to hand over key files to Second Sight for its investigation.
December 2013
Sub-postmaster Martin Griffiths, 59, who ran a branch in Great Sutton, Cheshire, dies by suicide. He was wrongly accused of stealing £61,000 from his post office.
July 2013
An interim report by Second Sight is issued and Post Office Ltd admit software defects with Horizon have occurred but insist the system is effective.
June 2012
Second Sight, an independent investigative firm, is appointed and paid by the Post Office to conduct a separate inquiry, following pressure from MPs.
April 2012
Paula Vennells becomes the chief executive of the Post Office after serving in other senior positions within the company.
October 2010
Pregnant sub-postmistress Seema Misra is sentenced at Guildford Crown Court to 15 months in prison after Horizon falsely recorded a shortfall of £74,000 at her post office in West Byfleet, Surrey. She said later: "It's hard to say but I think that if I had not been pregnant, I would have killed myself." She was cleared in 2021.
May 2010
Postal affairs minister Sir Ed Davey, now the Liberal Democrats leader, refuses to meet Alan Bates, saying he did not believe it "would serve any purpose". The pair later meet in October that year.
September 2009
Alan Bates and other victims of the scandal set up the Justice for Sub-postmasters Alliance (JFSA). The group's first meeting takes place in the Warwickshire village of Fenny Compton.
May 2009
An article by Computer Weekly magazine tells the story of seven postmasters, including Bates and Castleton, who have experienced issues with Horizon. The article shows that those affected are not alone.
January 2009
Sub-postmistress Fiona McGowan, 47, dies from an accidental overside of alcohol and antidepressants, after being charged with fraud when Horizon wrongly found that £30,000 was missing from her branch in Edinburgh. The charges against her had already been dropped but she was never informed.
January 2006
Sub-postmaster Lee Castleton fights a civil case against the Post Office after it falsely accused him of stealing £35,000 from his branch in Bridlington, East Yorkshire.
Castleton represents himself as he is unable to afford a lawyer, and loses the case. Ordered to pay £321,000 in legal costs, he is forced to declare bankruptcy.
January 2004
Alan Bates writes a letter to Computer Weekly magazine about the problems with his Horizon system. He writes: "We have lost our investment and livelihood by daring to raise questions over a computer system we had thrust upon us."
2003
The Post Office terminates Alan Bates's contract as sub-postmaster after he refused to accept liability for alleged losses at his branch - he and his wife lost the £65,000 they had invested in the business.
May 2002
Shopkeeper Baljit Sethi contacts the Brentwood Gazette newspaper to raise concerns about Horizon errors at his post office in Brentwood, Essex, which showed a £17,000 shortfall. The Post Office refutes that the system is faulty.
2000-2002
There are more than 100 prosecutions based on faulty Horizon data in three years. Six branch managers are convicted in 2000, while 41 sub-postmasters are prosecuted in 2001 and another 64 in 2002.
2000
Some sub-postmasters report problems with the system within weeks of it being installed, including Alan Bates, who runs a post office in Craig-y-Don, Wales. But the Post Office denies anyone else is having issues and insists postmasters make up any shortfall.
1999
The Post Office begins the rollout of its new computer accounting system, Horizon. The system was developed by British company International Computers Ltd, which was rebranded in 2002 under the name of its Japanese owner, Fujitsu.
For confidential emotional support contact The Samaritans at any time by calling 116 123 or emailing jo@samaritans.org.
