PM backs sub-postmasters scandal inquiry

THE Government will commit to an independent inquiry following a legal ruling affecting hundreds of sub-postmasters, Boris Johnson has suggested.

Raising the issue of the “scandal” during Prime Minister’s Questions, Kate Osborne, the Labour MP for Jarrow, said: “Like many other subpostmasters, my constituent Chris Head was victim to the Post Office Horizon IT system scandal. These errors have resulted in bankruptcy, imprisonment and even suicides. Will the Prime Minister today assure Chris and others that he will commit to launching an independent inquiry?”

Mr Johnson replied: “I am indeed aware of the scandal to which she alludes and the disasters that have befallen many Post Office workers – I’ve met some of them myself – and I am happy to commit to getting to the bottom of the matter in the way that she recommends.”

The Horizon computer system was found to have contained a number of software defects that caused shortfalls in the sub-postmasters’ branch accounts over a number of years.

As a result, hundreds were accused of false accounting and theft and some were made bankrupt while others were prosecuted and even jailed.

At the High Court last year, Mr Justice Fraser approved a £58 million settlement between the Post Office and more than 550 claimants over the scandal. The High Court judge subsequently referred the case to the Director of Public Prosecutions. By Daily Telegraph Reporter