The Metropolitan Police has stepped in to investigate claims that a Post Office employee told staff to destroy or hide evidence related to the ongoing public inquiry into the Post Office scandal. This comes after new testimony shed light on the situation.
Rachel Scarrabelotti, the current company secretary for the Post Office, stated in her witness statement that a senior staff member allegedly instructed their team to conceal materials that could be important for the inquiry. She also mentioned inappropriate behavior from that same individual. Up until now, there hasn’t been much commentary from either the Met or the Post Office regarding whether this has turned into a police investigation.
However, during a recent inquiry hearing, John Bartlett, who oversees assurance and complex investigations at the Post Office, confirmed that the Metropolitan Police is indeed investigating the matter. He stated, “We told the inquiry about it, we told the Met Police about it, and it is now a Met Police investigation.” He noted that the individual involved, currently suspended, is not participating in the ongoing phase of the inquiry.
This revelation resonates with findings from wrongful conviction appeals in 2021. Back then, it emerged that a senior Post Office executive had urged staff to shred documents that contradicted the claim that the Horizon computer system was reliable, amid allegations that the system had caused unexplained financial discrepancies. During those appeals, lawyers mentioned advice given in 2013 by Simon Clarke, a barrister who worked with the Post Office. He recounted in a note that after a meeting aimed at gathering information on Horizon-related issues, an instruction was issued to destroy the minutes of that meeting—specifically mentioning that the documents should be “shredded.”
Ian Ross, a former police officer and forensic expert, has criticized the lack of police action regarding the scandal. He remarked that in some cases, officials should have already charged individuals with serious offenses.
The Post Office scandal first came to light in 2009, when Computer Weekly reported on the experiences of seven subpostmasters affected by the Horizon software, which has since been recognized as the largest miscarriage of justice in British history.