The long-awaited criminal trials related to the Post Office Horizon IT scandal may not commence until 2028, sparking renewed frustration among victims and campaigners who have waited decades for accountability.
The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) confirmed that while investigations are ongoing, the sheer complexity and scale of the case—believed to be one of the most widespread miscarriages of justice in British legal history—means formal criminal proceedings could still be years away.
Hundreds of sub-postmasters were wrongly accused of theft, fraud, and false accounting due to faulty Horizon accounting software used by the Post Office between 1999 and 2015. While many convictions have since been overturned, the delay in bringing potential criminal charges against those responsible has provoked outrage.
“There’s a real danger that justice delayed will become justice denied,” said Neil Hudgell, a solicitor representing dozens of former sub-postmasters. “Victims have endured years of financial ruin, reputational damage, and emotional trauma. They deserve answers—and consequences.”
The inquiry into the scandal, chaired by Sir Wyn Williams, continues to uncover disturbing evidence of institutional failure, cover-ups, and ignored warnings about Horizon’s reliability. However, CPS officials stress that building a prosecutable case based on decades-old evidence and thousands of documents is a “monumental task.”
Legal experts say the earliest realistic timeframe for any criminal trials would be 2028, though even that depends on the pace of evidence gathering and the final recommendations from the inquiry.
“It’s not just about identifying wrongdoing—it’s about proving it beyond reasonable doubt,” said former prosecutor Alison Rees. “But that doesn’t make the delay any less painful for those affected.”
For now, victims and their supporters must wait—again—as one of modern Britain’s darkest institutional scandals drags further into the future.