Sobbing Paula Vennells accused of talking ‘absolute rubbish’
24 mei 2024
Paula Vennells becomes emotional during Post Office Inquiry questioning
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.
Ex-Post Office boss gives emotional apology to sub-postmasters – as Mr Bates offers ‘no sympathy’
24 mei 2024
Paula Vennells, the former boss of the Post Office, spent more than five hours on Wednesday answering questions at the public inquiry into the scandal.
It’s the first time she 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 Horizon IT system.
Sobbing Paula Vennells accused of talking ‘absolute rubbish’
24 mei 2024
Paula Vennells becomes emotional during Post Office Inquiry questioning
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.
Paula Vennells accused of ‘keeping a lid’ on Post Office scandal during grilling by victims’ lawyer
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.”
‘I let these people down’: Paula Vennells sobs as she declares love for the Post Office
24 mei 2024
Paula Vennells sobbed as she declared her “love” for the Post Office during intense questioning from lawyers representing subpostmasters at the Horizon IT inquiry.
#postoffice #Vennells #Telegraph
The former Post Office chief executive was forced to compose herself after she was accused of being someone who “couldn’t be bothered” to ask the right questions.
Sam Stein KC said Ms Vennells had “failed” and asked: “Looking under that rock, you’re going to find a problem that’s going to devastate the Post Office, ruin it, you couldn’t let that happen could you Ms Vennells?”
Beginning her response, Ms Vennells said: “I loved the Post Office. I gave..”, before her voice broke and she began to cry.
After composing herself, she continued: “I worked as hard as I possibly could to deliver the best Post Office for the UK,” adding later: “I let these people down. I am very aware of that.”
Ms Vennells held the top role between 2012 and 2019. She has already given evidence for two days.
The scandal has seen more than 900 subpostmasters wrongfully prosecuted after bugs were incorrectly recorded on their branch accounts.
‘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
‘HOW Could You Not Have Known?’ | Former Post Office Boss Paula Vennells Grilled At Horizon Inquiry
22 mei 2024
Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells is quizzed today on her role in the Horizon scandal.
The disgraced ex-chief executive is beginning her three days of evidence to the Horizon IT inquiry amid claims she covered-up the Post Office’s knowledge of bugs in the faulty accounting software.
The inquiry is shown text messages between Ms Vennells and former Royal Mail boss Dame Moya Greene, thought to be from around January this year, in which the latter says: “I think you knew” about the problems with the Horizon system.
Asked why she does not answer Dame Moya’s question about how she could not have known, Ms Vennells tells the inquiry today: “I didn’t not answer that question; I was very concerned because I was aware that it was not good practice to be exchanging texts in the middle of an inquiry.
“It wasn’t that I should or shouldn’t have answered her question.”
Man Sells Milk from a Dog
23 nov 2018
The newest craze is this new dairy milk that comes from dogs!
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