Ex-Post Office boss shown letter blaming company for sub-postmaster's suicide
Angela Van Den Bogerd faces questions on the suicide of a sub-postmaster who was wrongly accused of stealing money due to Horizon, as UK Editor Paul Brand reports
Former Post Office executive Angela Van Den Bogerd has faced tough questions over the suicide of former sub-postmaster who was wrongly accused of stealing from his branch.
On her second day of giving evidence to the Horizon IT scandal inquiry, Ms Van Den Bogerd was asked about the cases of several individual sub-postmasters and their branches.
The inquiry was shown a series of letters and emails concerning the case of the late Martin Griffiths, who was sacked from his Post Office branch in 2013, and hounded for £100,000 worth of losses - which did not exist.
Mr Griffiths, who'd worked for the Post Office for 18 years, took his own life after he had been deemed culpable for an armed robbery at his branch in May of that year.
Ms Van Den Bogerd was shown a letter blaming the Post Office solely for his suicide and she was accused of pressuring his widow to accept a payout in return for her silence.
It comes after she yesterday claimed she had forgotten about an email she received in 2010 informing her that Fujitsu employees could remotely access branch accounts.
Ms Van Den Bogerd, played by Coronation Street actress Katherine Kelly in the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, is seen as a key witness in the scandal and held multiple roles in her 35-year career at the Post Office.
Former sub-postmaster's suicide blamed on Post Office
The inquiry heard of the case of Martin Griffiths who the Post Office fired from his Hope Farm branch in Cheshire in July 2013.
It came after he wrote to the Post Office that same month about a £39,000 shortfall at his branch between February 2012 and May 2013.
He was falsely accused of stealing a total of £100,000 from his Ellesmere Port branch which he and his family were chased for by the Post Office.
In May of that year, he was the victim of an armed robbery at the branch - for which the Post Office deemed him culpable.
"For not following certain procedures, yes," said Ms Van Den Bogerd.
ITV News' Paul Brand analyses Ms Van Den Bogerd's second day of evidence
The inquiry was shown a letter from Mr Griffiths' mother who wrote to a regional Post Office contracts manager in July 2013, saying her son was under severe pressure and she was having to support him financially to cover the shortfalls by using her life savings.
Mr Griffiths attempted to take his own life on September 23, 2013 and remained in a coma for three weeks in hospital. On October 11, his life support machine was switched off and he died. A coroner later concluded he died by suicide.
Ms Van Den Bogerd said Mr Griffith's case was "tragic" and says she was "concerned for the family" after his death.
'The first thing was to get a media lawyer' - Jason Beer KC
After learning of Mr Griffith's suicide attempt, Post Office staff suggested in an email chain - which was forwarded to Ms Van Den Bogerd - that they hire a specialist media lawyer.
Mr Beer pressed Ms Van Den Bogerd over the culture of the post office and questioned why their first thought on receiving that news was they need a media lawyer, rather than supporting the family.
He pressed: "Your immediate reaction was not what can I do to help this family was it?"
She admitted: "No it wasn't."
"I don't think it was the first thought but it was definitely a consideration in everything we did - the PR and comms element, it was always a consideration," she said.
When Mr Beer asked why brand image was so important, she replied: "In all my time with Post Office from very early on I was very conscious that PR was very important."
Post Office offered £140,000 payment for the family to drop legal action
It was revealed the Post Office gave a compensation payment to the family on the condition they drop any action or legal recourse.
The inquiry was shown an email from Mr Griffiths' daughter, Lauren, around a year after her father's suicide, saying they hold the company "solely and wholly responsible" for her father's death.
She said it was "simply disgusting" the family were offered £140,000 in return for the family's silence, which Mr Beer described as "an incentive using money as a tool to keep the matter hushed up".
Ms Van Den Bogerd said the payment was equivalent to the Post Office's "network transformation payment" and was not intended to be "packaged" as a payment for his death.
Another email sent from Alan Bates, a former sub-postmaster who spearheaded the campaign for his fellow wrongly convicted colleagues, to executives in 2013 said “the post office had driven him to suicide”.
"I know he was terrified to raise his shortages with the Post Office
"Why did the post office have to hound him to the point of him taking his own life?"
"We originally thought it was a traffic accident and I was initially concerned for the family," Ms Van Den Bogerd told the inquiry.
Errors in the Post Office’s Horizon IT system meant money appeared to be missing from many branch accounts when, in fact, it was not.
As a result, the government-owned organisation prosecuted more than 700 subpostmasters who were handed criminal convictions between 1999 and 2015.
The scandal represents one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in UK legal history. Since then, the Court of Appeal has quashed the convictions of more than 100 subpostmasters.
Hundreds of subpostmasters are still awaiting compensation despite the Government announcing that those whose convictions have been quashed are eligible for £600,000 payouts.
Ms van den Bogerd was made redundant by the Post Office, according to her witness statement.
If you or someone you know is struggling, help is available:
CALM, the Campaign Against Living Miserably, runs a free and confidential helpline and webchat. It also supports those bereaved by suicide, through the Support After Suicide Partnership (SASP). Call 0800 585858 (daily, 5pm to midnight).
Mind is a mental health charity which promotes the views and needs of people with mental health issues. It provides advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem, and campaigns to improve services, raise awareness and promote understanding. Call 0300 123 3393 or email info@mind.org.uk
Samaritans is an organisation offering confidential support for people experiencing feelings of distress or despair. Phone 116 123 (a free 24 hour helpline) or email jo@samaritans.org