Post Office Scandal

The Post Office provides products and services ranging from postal delivery to banking and insurance. It dates back to 1660 and was formed as the General Post Office under Charles II. From 1999 to 2005 it wrongly pursued about 3,500 sub-postmasters — individuals who run small branches around the country — for alleged theft, fraud and false accounting based on incorrect data from its Horizon accounting system. Some of the victims were jailed, others lost their homes or relationships or suffered mental trauma and many were declared bankrupt. More than 30 premature deaths and at least four suicides have been attributed to the scandal, which is now the subject of a public inquiry and is said to be one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British history.