Paula Vennells cries and denies knowing Post Office was carrying out its own prosecutions
Paula Vennels – Background
Worked 12 years in total for Post Office
Begin January 2007
Made CEO October 2010
Left CEO April 2019 more than 8 year CEO
Notice there are 3 other web pages about the inquiry of the Post Office Boss Paula Vennells:
A Broken Society: The Impact on Morality, Justice, and Ethics
Paula Vennells’ Epic Failure: Innocent People Ground Down
Proforma Justice: Horizon IT Disaster – Looking Under the Rock TRANSCRIPT
Inquiry date Paul Vennells
Former boss claims IT executives and legal counsels let her down
Paula Vennells, the former chief executive of the Post Office, has identified five executives she blames for the Horizon scandal. This scandal involved the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of Post Office branch operators due to errors in the Horizon IT system, resulting in severe consequences including financial loss and suicide for some operators.
During her testimony, Vennells, who led the Post Office from 2012 to 2019, claimed she was misled by her senior staff and was overly trusting. She named IT executives Mike Young and Lesley Sewell, and legal counsels Susan Crichton, Chris Aujard, and Jane MacLeod as those who failed her. MacLeod has refused to attend the inquiry, now living in Australia, and is beyond the inquiry’s compulsion.
Vennells expressed regret for the actions taken against the operators, particularly the aggressive legal strategy to force settlements, which she questioned but felt constrained by the advice from her legal team.
She faced harsh criticism during the inquiry for her perceived lack of compassion and responsibility, with barristers accusing her of providing self-serving evidence. An email she wrote in 2014 about the scandal on BBC’s The One Show, in which she dismissed the outrage and mocked an accused operator, was read out, leading to a confrontation with the wrongly accused Jo Hamilton.
Vennells apologized, but Hamilton doubted the sincerity. The inquiry, monitored by the Met police and the Solicitors Regulation Authority, continues to investigate potential fraud and misconduct.
1 Fight tooth and nail
Idiom. To try very hard to get something you want. We fought tooth and nail to get the route of the new road changed. – Cambridge Dictionary
Ms Vennells was at the helm of the Post Office between 2012 and 2019, and has faced heavy criticism for her handling of the Horizon scandal.
She became teary during today’s questioning after being told she had “failed” in her role.
“You failed to get into this, on your account. You failed to ask the right questions.”
Please listen to the video’s below
Mevrouw Vennells stond aan het roer van de Post Office tussen 2012 en 2019 en heeft zware kritiek gekregen op haar aanpak van het Horizon-schandaal.
Ze werd emotioneel tijdens de ondervraging van vandaag nadat haar werd verteld dat ze ‘gefaald’ had in haar rol.
‘U bent hierop niet ingegaan, volgens uw eigen zeggen. U heeft de juiste vragen niet gesteld.’
1 Paula Vennells breaks down during Post Office Inquiry questioning
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24 mei 2024
Paula Vennells accused of talking ‘absolute rubbish’.
Paula Vennells, under questioning from Sam Stein KC, acting on behalf of a number of subpostmasters, insisted she “loved” the Post Office before growing visibly upset and pausing to compose herself.
2 Ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells accused of talking ‘absolute rubbish’ as she breaks down in tears
Educational: IMPORTANT
Sam Stein KC has accused ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells at the inquiry of talking “absolute rubbish”.
Paula Vennels former Chief Executive Officier of the Post Office.
Looking under the rock
Fight tooth and nail: to try very hard to get something you want.
We fought tooth and nail to get the route of the new road changed. Cambridge Dictionary
3 ‘This Is La-La Land Isn’t It?’ | Former Post Office Boss Paula Vennells Grilled At Horizon Inquiry
24 mei 2024
Ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells has faced intense scrutiny from lawyers at the Post Office inquiry
On her third day of evidence at the inquiry, Ms Vennellls was grilled by Edward Henry KC, who represents several of the Post Office scandal victims.
Henry criticised Vennells’ testimony to the inquiry
‘This is la-la land, isn’t it?’, he says
4 Paula Vennells accused of ‘keeping a lid’ on Post Office scandal during grilling by victims’ lawyer
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24 mei 2024
Paula Vennells told the Horizon IT Inquiry she did her “very best” but accepted “it wasn’t good enough”.
Edward Henry KC, on behalf of a number of subpostmasters, said: “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.”
Mr Henry went on: “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 responded: “I was the chief executive, I did not set the agenda for the work of the scheme and the way the legal and the IT parts of it worked.
“I had to rely on those colleagues who were experts and I had no reason not to take the advice that I was given. I accept I was chief executive and, as I have said, as a chief executive you have ultimate accountability and that is simply fact.
“You are not responsible for everything that happens underneath you. You have to rely on the advice of internal and external experts and that is what I did and I was not working alone on this.”
She added: “I did my very best through this, and it wasn’t good enough, and that is a regret I carry with me.”
Educatinal
5 ‘Post Office Inquiry: Paula Vennells breaks down as she’s accused of talking ‘absolute rubbish’
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24 mei 2024
Paula Vennells, under questioning from a lawyer acting on behalf of a number of subpostmasters, insisted she “loved” the Post Office before growing visibly upset and pausing to compose herself.
On her third day of evidence to the Horizon IT Inquiry, the former Post Office boss said she “believed” she was asking the right questions about the Horizon system but accepted she “may not have” as she was not an IT expert.
Sam Stein KC said: “Ms Vennells, you’re not stupid. You studied French, Russian, business as a degree. You then worked for well-known companies in the UK – Whitbread, Argos, others.
“You rose through the ranks of the Post Office to become its CEO. You were pushing forward under network transformation. You’ve been quoted as saying that you want and you see a future of the Post Office opening up more branches, 30,000 branches in the future.
“That was you, Ms Vennells, at the time. A vision you were expressing to everyone that asked about what you could see for the future. And yet here, all of these facts were adding up to there being a real problem, a really difficult problem to chew over, right the way through 2013.
“And you failed didn’t you? You failed to get into this, on your account, you failed to ask the right questions. You couldn’t be bothered, could you Ms Vennells? The risk was too great. Looking under that rock, you’re going to find a problem, it’s going to devastate the Post Office. Ruin it. And you couldn’t let that happen, could you Ms Vennells?”
The former chief executive said “I loved the Post Office”, after which she grew emotional and paused to compose herself.
6 ‘Absolute rubbish’: lawyer rejects Paula Vennells answer at Horizon IT inquiry
24 mei 2024 UNITED KINGDOM
The former Post Office chief Paula Vennells gave a tearful reply to a question from Sam Stein KC on her final day of testimony, saying: ‘I loved the Post Office. I gave it … I worked as hard as I possibly could to deliver the best Post Office for the UK.’ Stein responded at the end of her answer: ‘That’s absolute rubbish’
Educatinal: essential to understand what is happening hier
2 No inkling’ convictions were unsafe despite Alan Bates email
In Dutch translation: Ondanks Alan Bates’ e-mail geen vermoeden dat het onterechte veroordelingen waren
1 Post Office boss Paula Vennells had ‘no inkling’ convictions were unsafe despite Alan Bates email
26 sep 2013
Some guy is asking around for help. Luckily, this super smart dog pulls up in his SUV and is able to have a conversation with the guy. How the heck is that even possible?
2 “Nothing She Can Say To Redeem Herself” | Tearful Paula Vennells Admits Not Telling MPs Truth
23 mei 2024
Talk’s Julia Hartley-Brewer is joined by business editor at The Spectator Martin Vander Weyer to discuss former Post Office boss Paula Vennells’ second day of evidence at the Horizon IT inquiry.
Ms Vennells on Thursday claimed she had no inkling subpostmaster convictions were unsafe in 2013 despite a “concerning” email from lead campaigner Alan Bates.
Martin tells Julia that there is “nothing” Ms Vennells “can say to redeem her position”. He thinks bosses were “under a delusion” that subpostmasters were taking money from their branches over realising that the Horizon system was faulty.
In Dutch translation: Ik heb net de bijlagen gelezen. Behalve dat ik ze erg verontrustend vind (ik daag iedereen uit om dat niet te vinden), ben ik nu nog beter geïnformeerd. Het formulier dat je hebt opgesteld is zeer nuttig, omdat het een deel van de emoties wegneemt en heel duidelijk de gebieden benadrukt die we moeten aanpakken en onderzoeken voor het mediationproces, waarvan ik hoop dat het voor sommige van deze mensen tot verwerking zal leiden. Zoals ik zei toen we spraken, neem ik dit zeer serieus…
4 “Contempt They Had For Us!” Vennells Took Advice Not To Make Post Office ‘Front Page News’
24 mei 2024
Talk’s Kevin O’Sullivan is joined by former subpostmaster Tim Brentnall, as Paula Vennells gave evidence for a second day at the Horizon IT inquiry.
The former Post Office boss grew emotional over questions which saw her become visibly upset on a number of occasions and break down in tears twice.
5 Post Office Inquiry: Chairman intervenes as public gallery scoffs
23 mei 2024
The former Post Office boss Paula Vennells has denied trying to influence the independent investigation into the Horizon IT scandal – as emails emerged revealing that she saw managing the media as an urgent priority. The inquiry chairman had to intervene during groans of derision from the public gallery.
6 Former Post Office Boss Paula Vennells Breaks Down in Tears at Inquiry
23 mei 2024
Ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells has been in tears at the inquiry into the Horizon scandal. She broke down when acknowledging that what she told MPs and colleagues in one meeting about prosecutions of sub-postmasters wasn’t true.
Post Office scandal victims Lee Castleton and Janet Skinner reflect on Paula Vennells’ appearance at the Inquiry into the Horizon ITV scandal yesterday where she was seen breaking down in tears.
Broadcast on 23/05/24
7 Post Office Inquiry: Audience moan as Paula Vennells can’t recall key details | ITV News
24 mei 2024
As former Post Office boss Paula Vennells was questioned for a second day at the UK inquiry, members of the audience groaned in frustration as she failed to recall some key details.
ITV News Reporter Ellie Pitt spoke to one former sub-postmaster who was imprisoned while pregnant, who heard how the Post Office advised that including her in a case review “would be a rag to a bull”.
8 Former Post Office Boss accused of putting brand above investigation miscarriages of justice
23 mei 2024
Paula Vennells, CEO of the Post Office between 2012 and 2019, faced a tough second day at the Post Office inquiry as the was accused of prioritising the Post Office brand first over investigating more miscarriages of justice.
During her seven years as chief executive, hundreds of sub-postmasters were sent to jail based on flawed evidence thrown up by the Post Office’s Horizon IT system.
When asked about her emails with Post Office communications director, Mark Davies, Paula Vennells said: “I really don’t remember it relating to the decision,” with the room reacted with a series of scoffs.
Educational
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3 You can not say the dangerous dog has an arms length relationship with you…
9 Paula Vennells blamed ‘temptation’ of money in tills not IT system, Post Office inquiry hears
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10 apr 2024
Former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells suggested “temptation” for subpostmasters to borrow money from tills was a problem, not the faulty Horizon IT system, the inquiry into the scandal has heard.
It was Lord Arbuthnot’s turn to give evidence, expressing his frustration at successive governments’ attempts to play down the issue whenever he raised it.
10 Post Office scandal: former CEO admits evidence was false
22 mei 2024
Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells has begun giving evidence at the Horizon inquiry.
The ex-CEO broke down in tears four times during her testimony.
Almost a thousand subpostmasters were wrongly prosecuted and many believe Ms Vennells was at the heart of an orchestrated cover-up.
But much of her defence today focused around shifting blame, and in her words, being too trusting.
Educational: IMPORTANT
Educational
Dangerous Dog
11 Post Office Inquiry: moment Paula Vennells cries as documents reveal her comments about postmasters
22 mei 2024
Former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells broke down as she was presented with evidence that she had made disparaging remarks about subpostmasters, who’s lives were ruined when they were prosecuted over IT failures at the business.
The inquiry was shown minutes from a meeting between Vennells, Post Office personnel, and MPs, held on June 18, 2012.
Ms Vennells told MPs: “It appears that some subpostmasters have been borrowing money from the Post Office account/till in the same way they might do in a retail business”.
She said there “had not been a case investigated where the Horizon system had been found to be at fault”.
But Mr Beer points out that was not true.
He highlighted three specific cases which subpostmistresses accused of stealing Post Office funds had, by the time of that meeting, been acquitted by juries after blaming Horizon for the issue.
Mr Beer asked: “Why were you telling these parliamentarians every prosecution had found in favour of the Post Office?”
Breaking down in tears, Ms Vennells responded: “I fully accept now that the Post Office knew that.
“Personally, I didn’t know that, and I am incredibly sorry that happen to those people and to so many others.”
12 Ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells cries while giving evidence
22 mei 2024
Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells cried three times while giving evidence to the inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal.
Sky’s Sarah-Jane Mee is with sub-postmasters in Fenny Compton, Warwickshire – where the push for justice began in 2009.
She looks back at the morning’s events.
Educational
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13 Former Post Office boss breaks down at inquiry
22 mei 2024
Paula Vennells is giving evidence to the Post Office public inquiry — the first time she has spoken in public about the Horizon IT scandal in close to ten years.
Between 1999 and 2015, nearly 1,000 postmasters were prosecuted on the basis of data from the faulty accounting software, and thousands more were forced out of their businesses, bankrupted or asked to pay back cash.
14 ‘I don’t believe a word’: Paula Vennells at the Post Office Inquiry
22 mei 2024 Sky News Daily Podcasts
The former Post Office boss, Paula Vennells, has been testifying at the Inquiry examining the Horizon IT scandal.
It’s the first time Paula Vennells has spoken publicly in nearly ten years.
The hundreds of wronged Post Office workers, and their families, have been keenly anticipating her evidence, as, on her watch, prosecutions continued, despite mounting evidence that there was something wrong with the system.
On the Sky News Daily, Sarah-Jane Mee has been in Fenny Compton, in the village hall where Alan Bates began his campaign against the Post Office, to meet the sub-postmasters whose lives were ruined by Horizon.
Plus, one former sub-postmistress, Nicole, shares her story for the first time.
Producers: Emma Rae Woodhouse, Soila Apparicio
Editor: Wendy Parker
Podcast Promotion: Jada-Kai Meosa John
Educational
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4 Everything was taken away from me overnight…
15 Post Office Scandal: what did top executive know?
17 apr 2024
She’s been described as the Post Office executive who knew more about the Horizon IT scandal than anybody else.
Angela van den Bogerd personally oversaw complaints about Horizon problems since 2010 and was part of a mediation scheme that was supposed to get to the bottom of why so many subpostmasters were being accused of theft.
But she defended the Post Office until the bitter end, even as late as 2019, during the High Court class action which Alan Bates and his group of fellow postmasters won.
16 Post Office: Former executive accused of lying to inquiry
26 apr 2024
The inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal has heard that the Post Office’s first reaction to the suicide of a subpostmaster it accused of stealing was to hire a media lawyer to protect its reputation.
It came as former top executive Angela van den Bogerd tested the patience of the inquiry’s barristers. One branded her evidence “word soup”. Another accused her of lying throughout her two days of testimony.
Educational
17 Post Office executive warned of wrongful conviction six years before innocent man cleared | ITV News
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11 apr 2024
A senior Post Office executive was told by an independent investigator that an innocent sub-postmaster had been wrongly imprisoned without “any evidence”, six years before his conviction was finally quashed.
A secret recording obtained by ITV News has revealed Angela Van Den Bogerd, former Head of Partnerships at the Post Office, was told in January 2015 that the organisation had “materially misled” the courts in prosecuting Carl Page – a sub-postmaster from Staffordshire.
She was a key figure in the Post Office scandal and gave evidence to Parliament in February 2015 alongside then-Chief Executive Paula Vennells.
Is She Lying? At Post Office Inquiry Angela van den Bogerd is asked a question by Edward Henry KC
Is She Lying?
Educational
18 Smart Dog Drives Smart Car
26 sep 2013
Some guy is asking around for help. Luckily, this super smart dog pulls up in his SUV and is able to have a conversation with the guy. How the heck is that even possible?