Post Office must face police probe over claims it ‘knew of IT system flaws’, senior MP warns

THE POST Office must face a police probe over claims the company knew of flaws in the Horizon IT system, a senior MP says.

Ex-Minister Kevan Jones said cops should look at a document showing bosses and legal chiefs know of concerns in 2017 - but insisted postmasters were to blame.

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The Labour MP said "the police need to start looking at this" after it was highlighted in a BBC investigation.

Nine hundred sub-postmasters were prosecuted from 1999 until 2015 due to the inferior IT system.

The Post Office was taken to court by 555 sub-postmasters between 2018 and 2019 who won their case over being wrongly prosecuted.

But a draft dossier reveals that the Post Office knew in 2017 that there were issues with the system - but went on defending the case with £100 million of public funds.

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Mr Jones, a member of the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board, said this was "an abusive use of public cash against innocent people".

He added: "I do now think the police need to start looking at this. More will obviously come out at the public inquiry but there's enough out there now to start looking.

"Unless people are brought before a court of law and asked what they knew and why they took such actions, then that won't be justice."

Lord Arbuthnot said that some people caught up in the scandal deserve a “long spell in jail”.

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The revelation comes after Post Office boss Paula Vennells was told of issues with the Horizon system - two years before she told MPs there weren’t issues.

She was warned in 2013 in a meeting with investigators which was captured in a secret recording ahead of saying it was “not possible” the system could be accessed remotely.

The Met Police have been investigating the Post Office since 2020 but calls have now been made to focus on these findings.