Highlights
- Charging files now risk being delayed by up to five years beyond 2028 target
- 13 suspects interviewed under caution; 53 "persons of interest" identified
- At least 13 sub-postmasters have taken their own lives, according to their families
AN ASIAN woman wrongly jailed while pregnant during the Post Office Horizon scandal has warned that ministers will have "blood on their hands" if victims are denied justice because of a lack of police funding.
Seema Misra, 51, was accused of stealing £74,000 from her post office in West Byfleet, Surrey, and was sent to prison for 15 months in 2010 while eight weeks pregnant. Her conviction was overturned in 2021.
Now an OBE-appointed campaigner for justice, Misra told The Sunday Times she was furious at what she described as deliberate obstruction by the government.
"I'm very, very angry. The government sat us down and told us funding wouldn't be an issue," Misra was quoted as saying. "The police asked for almost £20 million and they received £2.8m — what kind of joke is this? The Home Office is trying to play dirty politics — it feels as if they are not interested in sorting this out."
The funding shortfall has put the entire criminal investigation at risk. Police had been working towards submitting charging files to the Crown Prosecution Service by 2028, but victims were told this week that target could slip by as much as five years.
Officers have so far interviewed 13 suspects under caution and named 53 "persons of interest" at both the Post Office and Fujitsu, the company that installed and operated the Horizon IT system.
Between 1999 and 2015, the Post Office brought prosecutions against almost 1,000 branch managers using data from Horizon that later proved to be unreliable. Concerns about the faulty software were ignored for years until a High Court case in 2019 brought the scandal into the open. Hundreds of convictions have since been overturned.
'Sub-postmasters suffered disastrous consequences'
A public inquiry concluded last July that sub-postmasters had suffered "disastrous consequences" from what it called "wholly unacceptable behaviour" by the Post Office and Fujitsu. The inquiry's chairman, Sir Wyn Williams, found in his first report that Post Office bosses had "maintained a fiction" that the Horizon system's data was always accurate.
At least 13 sub-postmasters have since taken their own lives, according to their families. Misra said corporate manslaughter charges must be on the table.
She told the Times, "I was sent to prison without a shred of evidence. Some very senior people committed crimes, and they have to be brought to justice. The Post Office, Fujitsu, and the officials involved will have blood on their hands unless there is proper accountability."
Commander Stephen Clayman, who has strategic oversight of the criminal investigation, confirmed the funding crisis was real and urgent. "We've told the Home Office: if you want us to maintain the targets we've set for charge submissions, we're not going to do it with the resources we have," he said. Detectives are weighing potential charges including perjury, perverting the course of justice and corporate manslaughter.
Misra vowed that victims would not stay quiet. "We won't be silent. If I have to urge each and every person to protest on the streets, I'm happy to do that. They will have no choice but to hear us."
The government said the Horizon scandal was "an appalling injustice" and confirmed the Home Office "is considering requests for further funding."
