Post Office Horizon IT scandal: five things we learned from the report

<p>We look at what volume one of the inquiry report describes as the ‘disastrous’ human impact of the scandal</p><ul><li><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jul/08/post-office-scandal-inquiry-horizon-it-scandal">Post Office scandal may have led to more than 13 suicides, inquiry finds</a></p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jul/08/victims-post-office-horizon-scandal-welcome-inquiry-findings">‘We lost so many along the way’: Horizon scandal victims welcome inquiry report</a></p></li></ul><p><a href="https://www.postofficehorizoninquiry.org.uk/sites/default/files/2025-07/Post%20Office%20Horizon%20IT%20Inquiry%20Final%20Report%20Volume%201.pdf">Volume one</a> of the final inquiry report from the retired high court judge Sir Wyn Williams, who chaired the hearings into the Post Office Horizon IT scandal, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jul/08/post-office-scandal-inquiry-horizon-it-scandal">lays bare the “disastrous” human impact</a> for the thousands of post office operators wrongly accused of taking money from their branches because faulty software showed a shortfall, many of whom went to prison.</p><p>Here are five key findings from the report:</p><p><em>In the UK and Ireland, <a href="https://www.samaritans.org/">Samaritans</a> can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email <a href="mailto:jo@samaritans.org">jo@samaritans.org</a> or <a href="mailto:jo@samaritans.ie">jo@samaritans.ie</a>. In the US, you can call or text the <a href="https://988lifeline.org/">National Suicide Prevention Lifeline</a> on 988, chat on <a href="https://988lifeline.org/chat/">988lifeline.org</a>, or <a href="https://www.crisistextline.org/">text HOME</a> to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service <a href="https://www.lifeline.org.au/">Lifeline</a> is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at <a href="http://www.befrienders.org/">befrienders.org</a></em></p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jul/08/post-office-horizon-it-scandal-five-things-we-learned-from-the-report">Continue reading...</a>