Paula Vennells accused of asking team to ‘dig into’ dead man’s records

The former Post Office chief was quizzed about an email she sent after Martin Griffiths’ suicide attempt suggesting she had heard about ‘previous mental health and family issues’

Paula Vennells has been accused of asking her team to “dig into” the records of Martin Griffiths, who stepped in front of a bus after being sacked from his Post Office branch in 2013.

The former Post Office chief was quizzed at the inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal about an email she sent after his suicide attempt suggesting she had heard about “previous mental health and family issues”.

In the email to Post Office executives, Ms Vennells said: “Can you let me know what background we have on Martin?

“I had heard, but have yet to see a formal report, that there were previously mental health issues and potential family issues.”

Paula Vennells has repeatedly broken down in tears at the inquiry (Horizon Inquiry)

Inquiry lead counsel Jason Beer KC asked if Ms Vennells was asking her team to “dig into Mr Griffiths’ health records to look for information or evidence that he took his life because of mental issues or family issues?”

He also asked if she knew it was his family’s view that Mr Griffiths had taken his own life because it had been ruined by the Post Office.

“You had just been told about his death and were trying to get on the front foot here, weren’t you?” he said.

He added: “You were tasking the team with finding out information to counter any narrative that the Post Office was to blame, weren’t you?”

Breaking down into tears for the second time of the hearing, Ms Vennells said she was trying to anticipate the questions the Post Office board and executives would ask.

She added: “I did know from previous examples and other information that… it doesn’t matter.

“I simply should not have said it. I should not have used these words.”

Mr Griffiths deliberately stepped in front of an oncoming bus on September 23, 2013 after he had been deemed culpable for an armed robbery at his branch in May of that year.

Paula Vennells was escorted into the inquiry by police (EPA)

He had also previously written to the Post Office in July 2013 about a £39,000 shortfall at his branch between February 2012 and May 2013.

Addressing the emails she had sent about his death, Ms Vennells said: “What I was trying to do, quite simply, was to get the wider picture and understand the very difficult challenges that [campaigner] Alan Bates had levelled at some post office colleagues.”

In 1999, Horizon, a defective Fujitsu IT system, began incorrectly reporting cash shortfalls at branches across the country. The accusations tore people’s lives apart, with many losing their jobs and homes.

Several people took their own lives due to the stress.

To this day, not a single Post Office or Fujitsu employee has been held to account over the scandal, much less faced criminal investigation.

Ms Vennells’ appearance before the inquiry is the first time she has spoken publicly in almost a decade, having last addressed the scandal before a committee of MPs in 2015.

Ms Vennells’ teary apology came as she said she wrote her witness statement with "integrity, truth and honesty" after being grilled over whether she could only remember things that were "exculpatory" of her.

Mr Beer said she has “no problem remembering things that put responsibility or attribute blame to others”. But he asked why she can remember only things that are “exculpatory of you that tend to diminish your blameworthiness”.

Ms Vennells replied: "No I don’t believe that’s the way I approached my statement at all.

"I approached it with the intention of integrity, truth and honesty."

Ms Vennells also said there was no "motivation" to put the needs of the Post Office over the suffering of subpostmasters during the Horizon scandal.

Paula Vennells’ number was blocked by ex-head of IT at the Post Office Lesley Sewell (Anthony Devlin/PA) (PA Wire)

Counsel to the inquiry Jason Beer KC asked: "Were you preoccupied with the need to protect the Post Office’s reputation and brand?"

Ms Vennells said: "Yes, but not to the extent of putting that over and above the suffering of the subpostmasters."

Mr Beer replied: "Did you know they were suffering?"

Ms Vennells said: "That’s a difficult question to answer because the answer is yes and no, I understood clearly if people are being prosecuted, that was a very difficult thing and the reason that we put in place the review of Second Sight and the mediation scheme was to look into that. I wasn’t personally aware at the time because I wasn’t involved in the prosecutions."

Questioned on whether she put the needs of the business over the suffering of subpostmasters, Ms Vennells said there "will be many examples of where that is clearly the case".

She said: "In terms of a personal approach I don’t ever recall that being a motivation. I can see with hindsight that there will be many examples of where that is clearly the case because the Post Office got this very wrong."