Five key moments from Paula Vennells’ first morning of evidence to the Post Office Horizon BT Inquiry.
1. ‘I guess you knew’
The inquest in central London heard a former chief executive of Royal Mail texted Ms Vennells in January and said: “I think you knew.”
Dame Moya Greene, who left her post at the Royal Mail in 2018, contacted Ms Vennells after the current Post Office boss gave evidence to the parliamentary select committee.
Dame Moya texted Ms Vennells to say she thought Nick Read, who took over from Ms Vennells as the Post Office’s chief executive in 2019, was a “poor witness”.
In a message later shown to the inquest, Dame Moya said: “I don’t know what to say. I guess you knew…”
Mrs. Vennells replied: “No, Moya, that is not the case.”
Asked what she thought she was denying, Ms Vennells told the inquiry: “I think Moya was probably suggesting that there was a conspiracy as you mentioned earlier, and as I said, I did not believe that was the case.
“Maybe he was saying – no, I think it’s the same thing – I was going to say it about the cover-up, but I think it’s the same thing.”
2. ‘I’m so very sorry’
Ms Vennells began her statement to the inquiry with a statement in which she apologized repeatedly to the hundreds of sub-postmasters who were accused of theft and fraud, many of whom were imprisoned and some of whom committed suicide.
He also apologized to sub-postmaster Alan Bates, who led the fight for justice, Lord Arbuthnot, who helped the campaign as an MP, and the authors of forensic accountants Second Sight’s report into the Horizon IT scandal.
After asking permission to make a brief statement before giving evidence, he told the inquiry: “I would like to say that I am grateful for the opportunity to do this in person and how sorry I am on behalf of all the sub-postmasters and their families. and others who have suffered as a result of all the issues the inquiry has explored for so long.
“I followed, listened to, and was fascinated by all the accounts of human impact.”
He added: “I am very, very sorry. I would also like to reiterate my apology in my witness statement to Alan Bates, Ron Warmington, Ian Henderson of Second Sight and Lord Arbuthnot.”
“I and the people I work with made their jobs much more difficult, and for that I am very, very sorry.”
3. burst into tears
Ms Vennells broke down in tears as the inquiry began discussing the Post Office’s response to the suicides of sub-postmasters who were wrongly accused of criminal offences.
He was asked about his response to the news that sub-postmaster Martin Griffiths had become dangerously ill in hospital after stepping in front of a bus.
At the time, Mr Griffiths was unfairly blamed for a £100,000 deficit at his branch.
Responding to questions about why she emailed Ms Vennells’ general counsel Susan Crichton, generally stating there were “a number of contributing factors” and asking whether police were involved, Ms Vennells said: “I had a personal experience with a former Post Office colleague . he had committed suicide, I called the family and talked to his father, and he told me that there were other problems involved and I thought…” she covered her face with a handkerchief before crying.
He paused for a moment to compose himself. He then continued: “In this particular case, I spoke with the assistant postmaster’s father, who told me that there were other factors that contributed to his son’s death and that they were very grateful for the call I made.”
Turning to Mr Griffiths, Ms Vennells said: “I offered to do the same in Mr Griffiths’ case and was told by the Crown Office’s general counsel that it was not needed and that there were other people involved. ”
Ms Vennells also apologized to Mr Griffiths’ family.
4. Too curious but too trusting
There was quiet laughter in the courtroom when Ms Vennells told the inquest that she had sometimes been criticized for being “too nosy”.
The former CEO defended himself as an insider asking questions.
He said: “I have sometimes been criticized at team development events for being too nosy and stepping too far into people’s space.”
Asked if he was the unluckiest chief executive in the UK, he replied: “I was given as much information as the inquiry heard. “There was information that I was not given and that others were not given.
“One of my thoughts about all of this was that I was too trusting.”
5. I assumed people had fingers in the safe
Ms Vennells told the inquiry that her comment to MPs in 2012 that sub-postmasters “tend to put their hands on the register” was based on an “assumption”.
Appearing before a parliamentary committee that year, he said the Post Office had never lost a case and that the Horizon system had not been found to be faulty every time it had been inspected.
About his comment that sub-postmasters were led into temptation, he told the inquiry: “That’s a harder thing to talk about. “The first thing I would say about this is to apologize because I am fully aware that this is not the case and that it is an assumption I made.”
He explained that the assumption was based on “case examples” and what he was told.
Regarding her comment that the Post Office had never lost a case, Ms Vennells told the inquiry that she had obtained this information from what she was told at a board meeting in January 2012, adding: “There was an understanding within the organization that this was the case.”
“That the post office has a 100 percent hit rate?” Jason Beer KC asked.
“I don’t think it’s mentioned that way, but yes in the way it’s explained here and obviously it’s completely wrong in so many different ways,” he replied.