Police investigation into Post Office Horizon scandal will take until ‘at least’ 2026, says Met chief

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy An investigation into potential criminal offences linked to the Post Office/Horizon scandal will take at least until 2026, Britain’s most senior police officer has admitted. open image in gallery Mark Rowley told his host on LBC that a detailed investigation ‘won’t be quick’ Sir Mark told LBC: “We’re now working with police forces across the country to pull together what will have to be a national investigation, which we’ll pull together because there’s hundreds of postmasters and mistresses from across the country. “But the police service across the country is alive to this, and we will do everything we can to bring people to justice if criminal offences can be proven.” open image in gallery Alan Bates and Toby Jones, who played him in the ITV drama about the scandal, ‘Mr Bates vs The Post Office’ The commissioner’s comments came as the government announced it had requested discussions with Fujitsu on the company’s contribution to the provision of compensation to subpostmasters. Meanwhile, the public inquiry into the scandal heard that Fujitsu, the IT firm behind the Horizon software, didn’t want to be “dragged” into the criminal prosecutions of the subpostmasters.