Post Office hires ex-police detectives to review role of ‘untouchable’ investigators

Post office

Former detectives have been brought in to investigate the role of the fraud squad, described as the “untouchables”, who interrogated and prosecuted hundreds of sub-postmasters during the Horizon scandal.

A team led by Gary Brooks, a former head of major crime at Lancashire Constabulary, has begun interviewing some of those who allege they were bullied and intimidated by Post Office investigators.

The former detectives have been appointed by the Post Office to “review the quality and effectiveness” of the investigations, which ultimately saw more than 900 sub-postmasters and others wrongly prosecuted between 1999 and 2015.

It follows allegations about the conduct of the Post Office’s fraud investigation team, allegedly known as the “untouchables” because of the power they wielded.

The public inquiry into the Horizon scandal has heard claims the investigators “behaved like mafia gangsters” who were looking to collect “bounty with threats and lies” from sub-postmasters.

But Stephen Bradshaw, one of the fraud team who still works for the Post Office, appeared before the inquiry last month to deny the allegations.

Among those who have met Mr Brooks’ team is Deirdre Connolly, 54, who was wrongly accused of stealing £16,592 from her Post Office in Killeter, Co Tyrone.

She has given the former detectives details of her 2010 interview with Mr Bradshaw and Suzanne Winter, a fellow fraud investigator, who left the Post Office in 2010.

A recording of the interview, which was thought to have been lost, has now been unearthed by the former police team.

Deirdre Connolly has met detectives looking into the conduct of the Post Office investigators – PA/Alamy

Rita Threlfall, who was charged with false accounting and theft over a £35,000 shortfall at her branch, has also met detectives to discuss her experience with the fraud squad.

She told the public inquiry last year that her treatment at the hands of the “untouchables” had left her suffering from “crippling anxiety and depression”.

Last week Henry Staunton, the Post Office chairman sacked by Kemi Badenoch, the Business Secretary, claimed the Post Office still employed more than 40 investigators involved in the Horizon scandal.

The Post Office has denied the claim and also said it does not recognise the label of the “untouchables” attached to its investigators.

Mr Staunton, who has been embroiled in a war of words with Mrs Badenoch over the circumstances of his departure, is due to appear before the business and trade select committee on Tuesday.

Explaining the decision to appoint a team of independent investigators, a Post Office spokesman said: “Since 2019, the Post Office has been delivering cultural and operational changes across the business.

“However, we are under no illusion that there remains much work to do. We are committed to change, ensuring that the wrongs of the past are not repeated.

“We have rightly been criticised for past investigation practices. A team has been recruited solely to review the quality and effectiveness of a number of past investigations arising from the allegations which were made during the inquiry, to inform current and future practices.”

Henry Staunton, the former Post Office chairman, has been embroiled in a war of words with Kemi Badenoch

Meanwhile, Sir Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats has admitted he should have apologised earlier for his role in the scandal.

Sir Ed served as postal affairs minister under the coalition government from 2010 to 2012, but only apologised to the victims of the scandal when the miscarriage of justice was put back into the spotlight following an ITV drama.

Asked why it had taken him so long to apologise, Sir Ed told Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “I probably should have said sorry earlier on, but it is a huge scandal and our hearts go out to those hundreds of sub-postmasters and their families who were treated appallingly.

“The key thing now is to make sure that those exonerations happen quickly, that they get the compensation quickly and that they get to the truth with the inquiry.”

He will give evidence alongside Paula Vennells, the former Post Office boss, at the public inquiry when it resumes in April.

Nick Read, the CEO of the Post Office will also appear before MPs on Tuesday to answer questions about the Horizon scandal.

Last week it emerged that, in a letter to Alex Chalk, the Justice Secretary, last month, Mr Read said the Post Office “would be bound to oppose an appeal” in at least 369 prosecutions.

The letter, dated Jan 9, was sent a day before the Government announced plans for new legislation to exonerate and compensate wrongly convicted postmasters.

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