Police investigating the Horizon Post Office scandal have now identified seven suspects, with more than 45 people classed as “persons of interest”.
A “scaled-up” national team of officers has been in place for over six months as part of Operation Olympos – dedicated to looking at crimes related to the Horizon Post Office scandal.
The number of suspects has increased to seven since before Christmas, as part of a UK-wide investigation involving 100 officers.
Four have now been interviewed under caution.
Hundreds of subpostmasters were wrongfully convicted of stealing after faulty computer software created false accounting shortfalls in Post Office branches between 1999 and 2015.
Commander Stephen Clayman, Gold Command for Operation Olympos, described a “huge shift” in terms of their investigation and “significant progress”.
“We’ve got over four million documents that are going to rise to about six million documents,” he said, “but we’re beginning to methodically work through those and looking at individuals who are associated with certain prosecutions.”
Post Office scandal: Government has not done enough to ensure compensation for victims, committee of MPs finds
Post Office Capture scandal: Sir Alan Bates calls for those responsible for wrongful convictions to be ‘brought to account’
Post Office scandal redress must not only be fair – it must be fast
He described a “pool of about 45 people plus” classed as “persons of interest”, with that number “expected to grow”.
He added that officers have questioned “some” in the past and “more recently” and are looking at the offences of perverting the course of justice and perjury.
The “wider pool” of persons of interest is made up of Post Office investigators, lawyers, and “management” across Fujitsu and the Post Office.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
The team of officers will be identifying actions which could amount to criminal offences on both an individual and corporate basis.
Any decisions made on whether to charge will not happen until after the Post Office inquiry findings are “published and reviewed”.
The Operation Olympos officers are part of four teams – a London hub and three regional teams – who have been described as “highly motivated” across England and Wales.
Police Scotland and the Police Service of Northern Ireland are also helping.
Cmdr Clayman said that officers “will be building a robust case” to pass on to the Crown Prosecution Service.
He also added that, compared to the inquiry, his officers will have to “prove this to the criminal standard…a much, much higher standard”.
He described feeling “optimistic” and “confident” that the teams will have “some successful outcomes”, and said they are “working as hard and as quickly as (they) can”.
Teams are involved in what has been described as a “focused strategy which gets to the heart of the issues”.
Their investigations are being overseen by the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the Metropolitan Police.
Read more from Sky News:
Pornography sites to introduce ‘robust’ age verification
Salmonella cases reach highest levels in a decade
Follow our channel and never miss an update
Victims have also been told that the police will not be reinvestigating every case but “taking a speculative look at cases” to focus on key people involved and evidence for prosecution.
Operation Olympos is also making use of special software to help process the amount of evidence to sift through material in relation to key events and identified cases.
Of the four suspects interviewed under caution, two were questioned in late 2021, one in late 2024 and the most recent in early 2025.
