I'm so sorry ...I was too trusting but I was kept in dark, says shamed ex-Post Office boss

PAULA VENNELLS CLAIMS DETAILS OF HORIZON SCANDAL WERE NOT SHARED WITH HER’

- John Dunne

DISGRACED ex-Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells today apologised for "all that subpostmasters and families... have suffered" as her evidence to the Horizon IT inquiry got under way.

The 65-year-old ordained priest also claimed she was "too trusting" when asked if she was the "unluckiest CEO in the United Kingdom".

She was given a self-incrimination warning by chairman Sir Wyn Williams, but told him: "Thank you, Sir Wyn... I plan to answer all questions." Issuing a statement at the beginning of this morning's hearing, Ms Vennells said: "I would just like to say, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to do this, how sorry I am for all that subpostmasters and their families and others have suffered as a result of all of the matters that the inquiry is looking into." As his first major question to Ms Vennells, counsel to the inquiry Jason Beer KC said: "Do you think you are the unluckiest CEO in the United Kingdom?" Ms Vennells replied: "As the inquiry has heard, there was information I wasn't given and others didn't receive as well. One of my reflections of all of this I was too trusting.