Police investigating the Horizon Post Office scandal have now identified seven suspects, with more than 45 people classed as “persons of interest”.

A “scaled-up” national team of officers has been in place for over six months as part of Operation Olympos – dedicated to looking at crimes related to the Horizon Post Office scandal.

The number of suspects has increased to seven since before Christmas, as part of a UK-wide investigation involving 100 officers.

Four have now been interviewed under caution.

Hundreds of subpostmasters were wrongfully convicted of stealing after faulty computer software created false accounting shortfalls in Post Office branches between 1999 and 2015.

Commander Stephen Clayman, Gold Command for Operation Olympos, described a “huge shift” in terms of their investigation and “significant progress”.

“We’ve got over four million documents that are going to rise to about six million documents,” he said, “but we’re beginning to methodically work through those and looking at individuals who are associated with certain prosecutions.”

He described a “pool of about 45 people plus” classed as “persons of interest”, with that number “expected to grow”.

He added that officers have questioned “some” in the past and “more recently” and are looking at the offences of perverting the course of justice and perjury.

The “wider pool” of persons of interest is made up of Post Office investigators, lawyers, and “management” across Fujitsu and the Post Office.

The team of officers will be identifying actions which could amount to criminal offences on both an individual and corporate basis.

Any decisions made on whether to charge will not happen until after the Post Office inquiry findings are “published and reviewed”.

The Operation Olympos officers are part of four teams – a London hub and three regional teams – who have been described as “highly motivated” across England and Wales.

Police Scotland and the Police Service of Northern Ireland are also helping.

Cmdr Clayman said that officers “will be building a robust case” to pass on to the Crown Prosecution Service.

He also added that, compared to the inquiry, his officers will have to “prove this to the criminal standard…a much, much higher standard”.

He described feeling “optimistic” and “confident” that the teams will have “some successful outcomes”, and said they are “working as hard and as quickly as (they) can”.

Teams are involved in what has been described as a “focused strategy which gets to the heart of the issues”.

Their investigations are being overseen by the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the Metropolitan Police.

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Victims have also been told that the police will not be reinvestigating every case but “taking a speculative look at cases” to focus on key people involved and evidence for prosecution.

Operation Olympos is also making use of special software to help process the amount of evidence to sift through material in relation to key events and identified cases.

Of the four suspects interviewed under caution, two were questioned in late 2021, one in late 2024 and the most recent in early 2025.

The government has made an offer to rebel Labour MPs over its controversial welfare reforms, Sky News understands.

More than 120 Labour MPs were poised to vote against the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Bill on Tuesday.

The changes come after a ring-around by cabinet ministers failed to bring rebels on side.

The bill was intended to restrict eligibility for the PIP – the main disability payment in England- and limit the sickness-related element of universal credit, to help shave £5bn off the welfare budget by 2030.

Sky News political editor Beth Rigby has heard that existing PIP claimants will be able to keep their payments, which means 370,000 people will not lose out. This will cost the government at least £1.5bn, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Sky News understands that a senior source has accepted the change, but it will be up to each individual rebel to make a decision on whether to withdraw.

The source said they think the changes are a “good package” with “generous concessions”.

Politics latest: Government to make offer to rebels

A reasoned amendment signed by 126 Labour MPs argued that disabled people had not been properly consulted and further scrutiny of the changes is needed. If passed, this would have killed the bill.

Other concessions offered by the government include allowing existing claimants to keep the health element of Universal Credit.

Sky News understands that some senior rebels are willing to accept the concessions – with one saying that “the concessions will be positively received, and I expect to vote with the government now”.

Other MPs who had not wanted to rebel were also expecting to change their votes.

However, several Labour MPs on the left of the party have gone public to say they will still oppose the government, including Diane Abbott, Richard Burgon, Nadia Whittome and Brian Leishman.

What is PIP?

The biggest shakeup to the system involved changes to PIP – money given to people, including some of whom are in work – who have extra care needs or mobility needs as a result of a disability.

People who claim it are awarded points depending on their ability to do certain activities, such as washing and preparing food, and this influences how much they will receive.

From November 2026, people would have needed to score a minimum of four points in at least one activity to qualify for the daily living element of PIP – instead of fewer points spread across a range of tasks.

This would have impacted existing claimants as well as new ones. The government’s concessions are understood to see this change dropped for existing claimants.

Universal credit

The government intended to freeze the health element of universal credit, claimed by more than two million people, at £97 a week during this parliament, and cut the rate to £50 for new claimants.

Again, it’s understood the government’s concessions mean this change now won’t apply to existing claimants.

Two Metropolitan Police officers committed gross misconduct during the strip search of a 15-year-old schoolgirl wrongly suspected of possessing cannabis, a misconduct hearing has found.

PCs Kristina Linge, Victoria Wray, and Rafal Szmydynski conducted the search of the black girl, known as Child Q, with no appropriate adult present at a school in Hackney, east London, in 2020.

Scotland Yard apologised, and the Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, described the case as “shocking” after details of the incident emerged in 2022.

PCs Linge, Wray and Szmydynski suspected the girl was in possession of cannabis, but the police watchdog later determined no drugs were found in her bags or outer clothing.

At a police misconduct hearing in London today, Linge and Szmydytnski were found to have committed gross misconduct. They could potentially be dismissed when the sanctions are decided.

Wray was cleared of gross misconduct, but found to have committed misconduct.

The panel found she became involved in a “situation where the decision had been decided already”.

The case of Child Q drew outrage when it first came to light in March 2022 and sparked protests.

The officers had been accused of treating Child Q differently due to her race, but Commander Jason Prins, chair of the misconduct panel, said: “We do not draw any inference that race was an effective cause of this incident.”

The panel found concerns about drugs and potential gang involvement were initially raised by school staff.

“Like many cases where stop and search is used, here the subject of the search was identified to police officers by other professionals rather than being by officers in the street,” Commander Prins added.

He said the problem was with the decision to conduct the strip search in the first place, finding it was “unnecessary” and “disproportionate”.

“There should never have been a strip search in these circumstances,” he said, accepting Child Q found it “humiliating and degrading”.

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The panel did not find any officer breached professional behaviour standards relating to equality and diversity, or honesty and integrity.

During the misconduct case, the three officers gave evidence, and each said they were not influenced by subconscious bias.

Luke Ponte, for Linge, said they happened to be “three immigrant officers” who were “trying to do their best to their adopted country” as they were seeking to solve a problem.

Mr Ponte said: “These officers must not bear the entire weight of Child Q where there has been wider dysfunction as to how this came about.”

Breaches of the Met’s standards of professional behaviour found to amount to gross misconduct can lead to dismissal or a final written warning, according to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

A fourth officer will face a disciplinary meeting at a later date relating to no appropriate adult being present during the search. This is separate from this misconduct hearing, and it’s a lower level of discipline.

Commander Kevin Southworth, on behalf of the force, said in a statement after the verdict: “The experience of Child Q should never have happened and was truly regrettable.

“We have sincerely apologised to Child Q since this incident happened. Again, I am deeply sorry to Child Q and her family for the trauma that we caused her, and the damage this incident caused to the trust and confidence Black communities across London have in our officers.

“While the officers involved did not act correctly, we acknowledge there were organisational failings. Training to our officers around strip search and the type of search carried out on Child Q was inadequate, and our oversight of the power was also severely lacking.

“This left officers, often young in service or junior in rank, making difficult decisions in complex situations with little information, support or clear resources to help their decision-making.

“What happened to Child Q was a catalyst for change, both for the Met and for policing nationally.

“While we should not have needed an incident such as Child Q to check our approach, it has absolutely led us to improving our processes and significantly reducing the number of these types of searches carried out.

“It’s crucial we get this right to ensure the impact on young people is minimised as far as possible.

“Sadly, we know there are children in London being exploited to carry drugs and weapons for others as well as involved in criminality, so these types of searches have to remain within police powers. The work we have done since Child Q means we now have the right safeguards in place.”