Post Office Inquiry – live: Paula Vennells booed over calling postmasters ‘inadequate’ in bombshell email
Ms Vennells faces grilling by subpostmasters’ lawyers over her role in scandal which saw hundreds wrongly prosecuted
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Ex-Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells was booed by the public gallery has been accused of talking “absolute rubbish” after she broke down in tears once again at the Horizon inquiry to insist that she loved the company and had “worked to the best of my ability” over the scandal.
Bringing to a close three days of bruising testimony – riddled with long pauses and insistences by Ms Vennells that she could not recall details asked of her – boos rang out in the gallery as the inquiry was shown a 2014 email by Paula Vennells congratulating Post Office comms director for a recent One Show appearance.
In the email, Ms Vennells claimed the segment made subpostmasters appear “inadequate” and said she was “more bored than outraged” hearing their claims of mistreatment and wrongful prosecution. She added that now-acquitted subpostmaster Jo Hamilton “lacked passion and admitted false accounting on TV”.
Insisting to the inquiry that she was “just hugely sorry” over the “terrible” email, she was challenged by barrister Tim Moloney KC: “Is it in fact that they were triumphalist remarks and you regret them now because you’re here?”
Ms Vennells concedes ‘no one to blame’ but herself for scandal
in another exchange on Friday, Paula Vennells admitted she has “no one to blame” but herself for what happened during the Horizon scandal.
Questioned over whether she only had herself to blame during the scandal, Ms Vennells said: “Absolutely. Where I made mistakes and where I made the wrong calls... where I had information and I made the wrong calls, yes, of course.”
Edward Henry KC, on behalf of a number of subpostmasters, asked her on Friday: “What I’m going to suggest to you is that whatever you did was deliberate, considered and calculated. No-one deceived you, no-one misled you. You set the agenda and the tone for the business.”
Ms Vennells said: “I did my very best through this, and it wasn’t good enough, and that is a regret I carry with me.”
Vennells admits false statement to MPs
In a key exchange on Wednesday that prompted her to reach for a tissue and compose herself, the former chief executive admitted she had made a false statement to parliamentarians, but unintentionally.
She had told MPs the Post Office had been successful in every case against subpostmasters in court.
After counsel to the inquiry Jason Beer KC listed a number of cases in which the business had not been successful, Ms Vennells said: “The Post Office knew that and I completely accepted.
“Personally I didn’t know that and I’m incredibly sorry that it happened to those people and to so many others.”
Ex-subpostmaster wishes Vennells recognised ‘unforgivable’ treatment years ago
A former subpostmaster has said he wishes Paula Vennells would have recognised a decade ago that what happened to him and his Post Office colleagues was “unforgivable”.
Lee Castleton was found to have a £25,000 shortfall at his branch in 2004 and was made bankrupt after he lost his legal battle with the Post Office.
Ms Vennells, former Post Office chief executive, admitted that the business’ treatment of the East Yorkshire subpostmaster was “unforgivable”, on her third day of her evidence to the Horizon IT inquiry.
Asked how he felt about her comments, Mr Castleton told the PA news agency during a break from the hearing: “It’s a different world for me now. It’s 20 years on and we have had to fight so hard. I just wish she would have recognised that in 2013 – it would have made such a difference to a lot of people.”
Ex-subpostmaster wishes Vennells recognised ‘unforgivable’ treatment years ago
Lee Castleton was found to have a £25,000 shortfall at his branch in 2004 and was made bankrupt after he lost his legal battle with the Post Office.
Vennells felt ‘uncomfortable’ during High Court case brought by Bates
Paula Vennells felt “uncomfortable” during the High Court case brought by lead campaigner Alan Bates and admitted the judgments made for “unacceptable reading”.
The case, known as the group litigation, racked up bills which Mr Justice Fraser considered to be “expensive” and subpostmasters have previously accused the Post Office of deploying a deliberate tactic to outspend them. More than 550 claimants brought the group legal action between 2017 and 2019.
Mr Justice Fraser concluded that the Horizon system contained a number of “bugs, errors and defects” and that there was a “material risk” that shortfalls in Post Office branch accounts were caused by the system.
At the Horizon IT inquiry on Friday, Sam Stein KC, on behalf of a number of subpostmasters, asked Ms Vennells: “You set the tone, didn’t you Ms Vennells? The tone was ‘Let’s eliminate them, let’s get rid of these bugs in the system – the subpostmasters’. That’s what you set in place, wasn’t it Ms Vennells?”
The former Post Office chief executive replied: “I did not set a culture like that. I did not lead the litigation ... in view of the judgments that were taken and where we are today, it is unacceptable reading.”
Vennells felt ‘uncomfortable’ during High Court case brought by Bates
More than 550 claimants brought the group legal action against the Post Office over the Horizon IT system between 2017 and 2019.
Paula Vennells admits treatment of bankrupted subpostmaster ‘unforgivable’
Former Post Office chief executive has admitted that the Post Office’s treatment of bankrupted subpostmaster Lee Castleton was “unforgivable”, Josh Payne reports.
East Yorkshire subpostmaster Mr Castleton was found to have a £25,000 shortfall at his branch in 2004 and was made bankrupt after he lost his legal battle with the Post Office.
Ms Vennells told the probe that the fact Mr Castleton was “locked out” of a mediation scheme for those who believed they had been wrongly prosecuted by the Post Office was “unacceptable”.
Edward Henry KC, a lawyer representing a number of subpostmasters, said: “You preach compassion, you don’t practice it. For example, with Mr Castleton he was even closed out of the mediation process and you know why that was, don’t you?”
The former Post Office chief executive, who is also an ordained Anglican priest in the Church of England, replied: “I’m sorry, I cannot recall the detail of that. I wasn’t personally involved in which cases did or didn’t go into the mediation scheme.”
Mr Henry continued: “It so deeply moved you, you said in your statement, ‘it was so shocking’, yet he was locked out of the mediation scheme because… he was an illustrious scalp… that could be used in the GLO (group litigation scheme)?”
Ms Vennells said: “What happened to Mr Castleton is completely unacceptable. At the time his case was not taken through the scheme, I personally wasn’t involved in the decision, but the Post Office took the decision based on legal advice.
“It was wrong, Mr Henry, I completely agree with that – and what happened to Mr Castleton is unforgivable.”
Paula Vennells admits treatment of bankrupted subpostmaster ‘unforgivable’
Lee Castleton was made bankrupt after he lost his legal battle with the Post Office.
Subpostmaster ‘disappointed’ by Vennells testimony
Former subpostmaster Keith Bell – who was falsely convicted of false accounting over a £3,000 shortfall – said he was “disappointed” by Paula Vennells’ responses to the inquiry.
“She’s had the opportunity to truthfully answer the questions. The facts were there, she can’t deny them,” he told Sky News.
“It was her job to understand and to act on the facts and not go down the route she decided to take.”
‘No coming back’: Reactions to 2014 Paula Vennells email
Here are some more reactions to Paula Vennells’s 2014 email, which drew boos from the gallery when it was shown.
Law Society Gazette deputy news editor John Hyde suggests “there’s no coming back from that”.
Jamie Robertson of Channel 4 noted it was “a very bad moment” for the former chief executive.
And Tom Hamilton of The Times pointed out that subpostmistress Jo Hamilton was watching on as barrister Tim Moloney challenged Ms Vennells over the claims made about her in the email.
Watch: Paula Vennells accused of talking ‘absolute rubbish’ as she cries again at Horizon inquiry
Subpostmistress attacked by Vennells in 2014 email doubts sincerity of her apology
Former subpostmistress Jo Hamilton said she doubts the sincerity of Paula Vennells’s apology to her.
Ms Vennells apologised to Ms Hamilton directly after an email the former Post Office boss wrote was read out at the Horizon inquiry in which she said the subpostmistress “lacked passion and admitted false accounting on TV” – which drew boos from the gallery when it was shown.
After the hearing, Ms Hamilton said: “I accept anyone’s apology but whether she means it or not is another matter. I’m not sure.”
Asked if it meant something to hear Ms Vennells apologise, she said: “Not really, no. I think people only say sorry, well some people say sorry and mean it, but I don’t know whether it was meant or not. I’m in two minds as to whether it was genuine or that she was so publicly ashamed.”
Paula Vennells finishes giving evidence
Proceedings have now finished.
The inquiry’s chair Sir Wyn Williams concluded that he was grateful to Paula Vennells for her very long witness statement and for giving evidence this week.
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