The first tranche of the Post Office inquiry’s final report has stopped short of attributing blame for the scandal.
The chairman of the probe Sir Wyn Williams said the human impact of the Horizon saga “should be placed at the forefront” of his final report and it was important to publish his conclusions on that issue as soon as possible.
Sir Wyn elected to make his findings on the compensation processes and the devastating impact the scandal had on subpostmasters on Tuesday.
His conclusions on who was at fault for overseeing the scandal are expected in the coming months.
That report is expected to scrutinise the role of Post Office bosses who oversaw the scandal, including former priest Paula Vennells.
Ms Vennells previously told the inquiry she was “too trusting” and had “no sense there was any conspiracy at all”, but also admitted she made “mistakes”.
The first tranche did tease what his overarching conclusions would include, saying Post Office bosses should have known Horizon was faulty but “maintained the fiction that its data was always accurate”.
In the introduction of his report, Sir Wyn said: “I have formed the view… that the impact upon those affected, the ‘human impact’, should be placed at the forefront of my report to the minister.
“That is why I have decided to publish this volume of my report as soon as it was completed rather than wait for the whole of my report to be ready for publication.
“It also seemed to me to be natural to combine my description of the suffering endured by so many with my assessments of, and conclusions about, the attempts by the Post Office, the minister and the Department to provide redress to those affected which is ‘full, fair and prompt’.”
