Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

A sign above a post office in England Alamy Stock Photo

Dozens of people affected by UK post office scandal contemplated suicide, report finds

It is thought approximately 1,000 people were wrongly prosecuted and convicted across the UK between 1999 and 2015.

DOZENS OF PEOPLE contemplated suicide because of their experiences of the UK Post Office Horizon scandal, an official report has found.

Bankruptcy, divorce and vitriolic abuse from the public were among the other “harrowing” impacts laid bare in a long-awaited report from the inquiry today.

The inquiry chairman, retired judge Wyn Williams, said at least 59 people “contemplated suicide at various points in time” and “attributed this to their experiences with Horizon and/or the Post Office”.

He described it as a “common experience” among both people who were prosecuted and those who were not and said 10 of the 59 had attempted to take their own lives, some on more than one occasion.

His report said the families of six former postmasters and seven others who were not postmasters claimed they had taken their own lives “as a consequence of Horizon showing an illusory shortfall in branch accounts”.

Wyn said it was a “real possibility” the 13 had died as a result of their experiences of the scandal.

He said: “I should stress that whilst I cannot make a definitive finding that there is a causal connection between the deaths of all 13 persons and Horizon, I do not rule it out as a real possibility.

“It is also possible that more than 13 persons, as indicated by the Post Office in response to the inquiry’s requests in March 2025, died by suicide but that some deaths have not been reported to the Post Office or the inquiry.”

Martin Griffiths deliberately stepped in front of an oncoming bus on 23 September 2013.

He had begun to suffer shortfalls in branch accounts in 2009 and, in the four years which followed, sought assistance from the IT helpdesk without success, the report said, adding that he was given notice in July 2013 that his postmaster contract was to be terminated.

A Post Office investigator had advised the Post Office that Mr Griffiths was partly to blame for the loss incurred from a robbery – during which he was injured – at his Hope Farm Post Office branch in Cheshire in May 2013, the report said.

His death, aged 59, “was and remains devastating for his wife, children and other close family”, the report added.

Wyn’s report detailed the range of ways in which the devastating fallout of the scandal affected Post Office workers and their families, from investigations to convictions.

He wrote: “Nearly all the persons interviewed under caution by Post Office investigators will have been in wholly unfamiliar territory and they will have found the experience to be troubling at best and harrowing at worst.”

For those who were jailed “life may have seemed close to unbearable” at times, while others who were convicted but not imprisoned often faced “hostile and abusive behaviour from members of the public in the locality”.

The convicted who gave evidence to the inquiry told of the “psychiatric and psychological problems which dogged them throughout the Post Office’s audit and investigation process, the criminal process and thereafter”.

Wyn said a “significant number” of those prosecuted and convicted said they contemplated self-harm, while 19 people said they had abused alcohol “and attributed this to their experiences with Horizon and/or the Post Office.”

It is thought approximately 1,000 people were wrongly prosecuted and convicted across the UK between 1999 and 2015, with somewhere between 50 and 60 people prosecuted but not convicted, Wyn said.

Those who were acquitted still faced being “ostracised in their local community”, the report noted.

Postmasters who were suspended or had their contracts terminated “suffered heightened distress and worry” over their loss of business, income and the effects on their family, it added.

If branches closed, they “became the object of local hostility and adverse local publicity”.

Many convicted postmasters were declared bankrupt, described by the report as a “complicating factor in a number of claims brought by claimants”.

Some evidence laid out the “catalogue of misfortunes which befell” postmasters and their families.

The report said: “Wives, husbands, children and parents endured very significant suffering in the form of distress, worry and disruption (to home life, in employment and in education).

“In a number of cases relationships with spouses and partners broke down and ended in divorce or separation.”

The report said that on many occasions “immediate family members were forced to endure vitriolic abuse from persons within their local or cultural community”.

Elderly parents had provided financial support using their savings in some cases to help children who were subpostmasters, with the report adding: “Some of those convicted spoke of their immense regret that parents had not lived to see their convictions being quashed.”

The inquiry chairman also paid tribute to the “fortitude and determination” of spouses and other close relatives of those postmasters who died before having their convictions quashed on appeal.

If you have been affected by any of the issues mentioned in this article, you can reach out for support through the following helplines. These organisations also put people in touch with long-term supports:

  •  Gamblers Anonymous (regular meetings and support)

  •  Samaritans- 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org (suicide, crisis support)

  •  Text About It- text HELLO to 50808 (mental health issues)

  •  Pieta House – 1800 247 247 or text HELP to 51444 – (suicide, self-harm)

Close
9 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Lance Taylor
    Favourite Lance Taylor
    Report
    Jul 8th 2025, 2:50 PM

    A travesty AGAIN they have not been compensated yet. Sunak promised them this but lies lies lies

    60
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Donna Fallon
    Favourite Donna Fallon
    Report
    Jul 8th 2025, 3:07 PM

    @Lance Taylor: Travesty is a big word similar to ‘crisis’ which is constantly bandied around in whatever this ‘Country’ used to be. Of course anyone still their right mind agrees that the Royal Mail acted in contempt of their Postmasters… Why would anyone be held accountable though Lance?? Have you literally just been beamed down to Earth??

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mary Linton
    Favourite Mary Linton
    Report
    Jul 8th 2025, 3:20 PM

    @Donna Fallon: hi Donna, tbf ‘ travesty’ & ‘ crisis’ are oceans apart in their literally meaning. The bosses were fully AWARE for over two years of the errors in the software yet did nothing about it…… heads HAVE rolled & there should be more. It’s only right& just that those so seriously affected get recompense

    29
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Lance Taylor
    Favourite Lance Taylor
    Report
    Jul 8th 2025, 5:55 PM

    @Donna Fallon: donna it is a large scale cover up even still. The compensation must be paid and people jailed immediately so justice can be served!!!

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Keith Sherry
    Favourite Keith Sherry
    Report
    Jul 8th 2025, 3:05 PM

    Despicable carry on. Compensation far too late for a lot of them. Some of the most honest and decent people you could ever hope to meet, with their characters dragged in the gutter, branded criminal, and dismissed at every stage right to the very top of government.
    Millions each wouldn’t be enough.

    46
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Lance Taylor
    Favourite Lance Taylor
    Report
    Jul 8th 2025, 3:08 PM

    @Keith Sherry: I suggest watching mr bates it is a brilliant film

    26
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute David Jordan
    Favourite David Jordan
    Report
    Jul 8th 2025, 3:04 PM

    A disturbingly familiar story of unchecked institutional power, unmoored from ethical foundations, overriding individual rights, truth, and basic human dignity. The reliance on flawed and manipulated systems, Horizon’s erroneous data and faith in its infallibility, the cultivation of internal cultures of denial and control, the wielding of unchecked prosecutorial enforcement power, the strategic weaponisation of information, and the consequent dehumanisation of victims all culminated in devastating human costs. The machinery of the institution, whether driven by misguided self-preservation or financial gain, proved capable of systematically crushing those who stood in its way or were simply caught in its gears.

    The Post Office scandal underscores the absolute necessity of robust independent oversight, comprehensive whistleblower protections that encourage and safeguard those who speak out against wrongdoing, and the cultivation of ethical leadership that prioritises integrity over expediency. It highlights the critical importance of a justice system that ensures accountability for those in positions of power and demonstrates the incredibly long and arduous fight often required for victims of institutional malfeasance to achieve redress and restore their reputations.

    https://www.postofficehorizoninquiry.org.uk/volume-1-post-office-horizon-it-inquirys-final-report

    27
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gerry Kelly
    Favourite Gerry Kelly
    Report
    Jul 8th 2025, 3:29 PM

    Alas it is no different here. The govt will always side with the institution over the individual.
    We have seen this repeatedly with groups like the HSE & other arms of the state bureaucracy.
    What we DON’T hear is any political party vowing to make this a real issue of campaign. We are supposed to be a republic, meaning all citizens are equal. This reality is very different

    21
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Padraic Horgan
    Favourite Padraic Horgan
    Report
    Jul 9th 2025, 10:48 AM

    What was inflicted on those decent people was truly horrendous and almost incredible.

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel

 
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds