Boos and groans as Paula Vennells ends three day grilling by sub-postmasters' lawyers

Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells is grilled by a lawyer representing the sub-postmasters who were victims of the Horizon scandal, on her third day under scrutiny at the inquiry as Ellie Pitt reports

Ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells was booed by sub-postmasters as she wrapped up three days of evidence to the Horizon inquiry that saw her pushed to tears multiple times.

On her final day of evidence, she was questioned about her response to a 2014 BBC One Show episode featuring campaigning sub-postmasters.

Ms Vennells wrote to colleagues after her communications chief, Mark Davies, described convicted sub-postmasters as having faced “lifestyle difficulties” during an interview on the BBC show.

In the email, Ms Vennells described a Horizon scandal victim as someone who “lacked passion”.

Boos came from the public gallery as Tim Moloney KC read the email, which said: “Not denying the fact it is unhelpful and inaccurate, (especially the focus on Horizon but see below re thoughts on that), Mark (Davies) has achieved a balance of reporting beyond anything I could have hoped for.

“The statements stamped across the screen with the PO (Post Office) sign as a back drop were really powerful. They emphasised everything we have done, and came across as … fact! Very good.

“The rest was hype and human interest. Not easy for me to be objective but I was more bored than outraged."

After the hearing, Jo Hamilton, who appeared on the episode and was falsely accused of stealing £36,000 from the Post Office, 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.”

Over her three days of testimony, Ms Vennells faced what one former sub-postmistress described as a room of people with “eyes full of hatred”.

She broke down multiple times during her testimony, leading to pauses in the questioning.

The first time was during her first day of evidence as she apologised for telling MPs the Post Office was successful in every court case against sub-postmasters.

She also broke down when she discussed Martin Griffiths, who died by suicide in 2013 after being deemed culpable for an armed robbery at his Post Office branch.

Her testimony was also met with repeated groans from the public gallery as she often struggled to remember answers to difficult questions.

The chairman of the inquiry had to intervene in proceedings after the public gallery groaned when Ms Vennells said she did not remember if she took the “advice of the PR guy” not to review five-10 years’ worth of past prosecutions.

Edward Henry KC grilled the 65-year-old at the hearing on Friday over her handling of the scandal, insisting her account of the events has been "self-serving".

"There were so many forks in the road but you always took the wrong path, didn’t you," he asked.

Ms Vennells replied: “It was an extraordinarily complex undertaking and the Post Office and I didn’t always take the right path, I’m very clear about that.”

Mr Henry continued: “I suggest to you that you still continue to live in a cloud of denial and it persists even to today because you have given in 750-odd pages (of a witness statement) a craven, self-serving account, haven’t you? ‘I didn’t know, nobody told me, I can’t remember, I was not shown this, I relied on the lawyers’.”

Ms Vennells replied: “I have tried to do this to the very best of my ability. I have taken… all of the questions I was asked. I have answered them honestly, no matter how difficult or how embarrassing or how wrong I was at the time. I don’t believe I could have worked harder for this."

More than 700 sub-postmasters were prosecuted by the Post Office and handed criminal convictions between 1999 and 2015 as Fujitsu’s faulty Horizon IT system made it appear as though money was missing at their branches.

Hundreds of sub-postmasters are still awaiting compensation despite the government announcing that those who have had convictions quashed are eligible for £600,000 payouts.

Lee Castleton, an East Yorkshire sub-postmaster, 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.

The inquiry previously heard that during her time as the organisation’s network director, Ms Vennells “likely” signed off on his £300,000 trial bill.

She told the probe 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”.

Mr Henry KC, said: “You preach compassion, you don’t practise it. For example, with Mr (Lee) Castleton he was even closed out of the mediation process and you know why that was, don’t you?”

Ms Vennells responded: “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)?”

“What happened to Mr Castleton is completely unacceptable," Ms Vennells conceded.

“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.”

Speaking to ITV News, Mr Castleton said on Friday that he "will never forgive any of them," referring to Ms Vennells and other Post Office executives.

Referencing the moments during the inquiry when Ms Vennells visibly broke down in tears, Mr Castleton said: "I have a lot of empathy for anyone that cries and I feel that very deeply.

"But the honesty is that, no matter what happens, I'm sure that Paula Vennells and the executive committee will never, ever cry as much as the victims and my family.

"For that, I will never forgive any of them really."

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