Police send 80 detectives to a post office for criminal investigation

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The criminal investigation into the postal scandal is being expanded to include 80 detectives from across the country.

Investigators will look into possible crimes such as perjury and perversion of justice.

London’s Metropolitan Police began investigating the scandal in January 2020, but the operation is now set to be expanded to include police forces across the United Kingdom.

Stephen Clayman, who is overseeing the investigation, said officials were aware of the “far-reaching and devastating implications” of the scandal.

“In parallel with the public investigation, a team of investigators carefully worked through millions of documents manually and with the help of special software,” he said.

“It’s very time consuming and we can’t take shortcuts and risk missing evidence.”

He added: “Given the significant scale of the investigation, it has been agreed by the National Police Chiefs’ Council that the next phase of the investigation will be a national policing operation, coordinated by the Metropolitan Police, with the pursuit of justice at its core.

“We do not underestimate the gravity of the task at hand and are determined to conduct a comprehensive investigation with independence, precision and integrity.”

Officials have asked the government for £6.75 million to fund their expanded investigation, The guardwhich first reported the news.

Due to the post office’s faulty IT system called “Horizon”, hundreds of post office managers were wrongfully convicted of theft and accounting fraud.

Police investigations have been ongoing against Fujitsu, the developer of the software, and the post office for more than four years.

There is also a public inquiry into the scandal, in which former Post Office boss Paula Vennells gave evidence last week.

During her three days of testimony, Ms Vennells broke down in tears several times.

She repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and stressed that she loved the company and had “worked to the best of her knowledge and ability” during her time there.

But the audience booed her, and the lawyers representing the victims of the scandal accused her of talking “complete nonsense.”