Paula Vennells 'slavishly' maintained Horizon was fine despite knowing faults

Paula Vennells "slavishly" maintained the Horizon system was robust despite being aware of its faults, her former Royal Mail Group counterpart has said.

Dame Moya Greene told the Horizon IT inquiry she initially backed Venells as the crisis began but changed her stance after seeing evidence emerge from the inquiry which led her to believe the former Post Office chief executive knew about Horizon's faults.

In an exchange of messages before she accused Ms Vennells of knowing about the system errors, Dame Moya told her: "What a terrible time. Just tell the truth.

"I know you are a good person and friends will be hard to find now.“What has happened is a terrible… horrible thing.

"So many lives ruined. Yours too."

She later told Ms Vennells, in an exchange previously shown to the inquiry during the former Post Office boss’s evidence: "When it was clear the system was at fault, the PO should have raised a red flag, stopped all proceedings, given people back their money and then tried to compensate them for the ruin this caused in their lives."

After Ms Vennells agreed the toll on everyone had been “dreadful”, Dame Moya added: “I don’t know what to say. I think you knew.”

On Friday, counsel to the inquiry Sam Stevens asked: “What did you think Paula Vennells knew?”

Dame Moya replied: “Gosh. I think she knew, on the basis of the evidence that has emerged in this inquiry, that there were faults in the system.

“I think that Post Office executives, including Mrs Vennells, continued to – slavishly, in my opinion – adhere to the position that was not tenable on the basis of the evidence presented here – that there were no faults.”

Dame Moya’s message from May 2022 read: “Horizon is the villain here and thank god we finally learned about the frailty in the system.

“We think of it is computerised, it is untamperable, infallible… not so.

“Stand tall. I know you are a good person and would never, never accuse anyone in the wrong.”

Asked what she meant when she said Ms Vennells was “a good person and would never accuse anyone in the wrong”, Dame Moya said: “Mrs Vennells was being vilified in the press and we didn’t know at that time in 2022 what we know now as a result of the evidence that has emerged in this inquiry.

“So at that time, I can only say what I saw – and what I saw when I worked with Mrs Vennells was a hard-working executive who was a problem solver. Not at all the kind of person that she has been portrayed (to be).”

Former Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson also gave evidence on Friday, saying Ms Vennells told her “with something of a pained expression” that subpostmasters “had their fingers in the till”.

The ex-postal affairs minister said Ms Vennells was trying to convey the message that “although these might seem to be lovely people, clearly some of them are actually just at it”.

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

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

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know...