Post Office Scandal: Nearly 60 Victims Contemplated Suicide, Shocking Report Reveals
Almost 60 individuals caught in the devastating Post Office scandal considered ending their own lives, according to the damning first section of a long-awaited public inquiry report.
The probe, led by Sir Wyn Williams, uncovered that 13 people may have taken their own lives as a direct result of the trauma inflicted by the Horizon IT system failings — one of the UK’s most appalling miscarriages of justice.
“Their experiences represent a shameful period in our history,” the Post Office admitted in a statement, offering an “unreserved” apology.
The report states plainly — senior figures within the Post Office knew the Horizon system, supplied by Fujitsu, was flawed. Yet, for years, they carried on as though it was watertight.
“Although many of the individuals who gave evidence before me were very reluctant to accept it, I am satisfied from the evidence that I have heard that a number of senior, and not-so-senior employees of the Post Office knew or, at the very least should have known, that Legacy Horizon was capable of error,” said Williams.
Still, the organisation continued to prosecute subpostmasters, insisting its data was infallible.
Between 1999 and 2015, around 1,000 people were wrongly prosecuted. Many were convicted of crimes they didn’t commit. Their reputations shattered. Their finances destroyed. Lives permanently altered.
Williams noted that 59 victims contemplated suicide, with 10 tragically attempting to take their lives.
The psychological toll was staggering. The report doesn’t shy away from painting the true emotional landscape: isolation, confusion, and in many cases, despair.
Sir Wyn also singled out Post Office investigators, describing their conduct as deeply unsettling.
“Subpostmasters will have been in wholly unfamiliar territory and they will have found the experience to be troubling at best and harrowing at worst.”
Behind the corporate façade, lives were crumbling.
The Horizon system, later replaced by Horizon Online in 2010, was riddled with bugs from the start. And still, the prosecution machine churned on.
“The Post Office maintained the fiction that its data was always accurate,” the report bluntly stated.
The fallout reached the highest levels. Former CEO Paula Vennells, under scrutiny for her role during a critical period, has come under fierce criticism. She was at the helm when, the report says, leadership should have acknowledged the system’s faults.
The scandal hit the national spotlight last year with ITV’s gripping drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which brought attention to Sir Alan Bates and the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance. The public response was immediate — and furious.
In total, around 10,000 individuals may now be eligible for compensation, and that number could rise “by at least hundreds, if not more, over the coming months”, the inquiry warned.
Despite this, compensation efforts have been sluggish and adversarial. The report didn’t mince words, criticising both the UK Government and the Post Office for failing to grasp the depth of the crisis or deliver timely redress.
Williams issued 19 formal recommendations, including a demand that both the government and Post Office publicly clarify what constitutes “full and fair redress.”
While this section of the report focused solely on victim impact and the compensation framework, accountability is on the horizon. Further findings — expected in a few months — may explicitly lay blame.
In its closing statement, the Post Office promised to “carefully consider the report and its recommendations.”
But for the victims — and the families forever changed — consideration is no longer enough.
Justice is overdue.
