Ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells followed a "grossly improper" suggestion to not review all subpostmaster prosecutions after a PR adviser said it would end up "front page news”, the Horizon IT inquiry heard yesterday. The probe was shown an email exchange between Ms Vennells and then director of communications Mark Davies in July 2013 in which she said she would “take your steer” after he said looking at all past cases would be “in media terms… very high profile”.
Ms Vennells agreed that, had the Post Office reviewed all prosecutions of false accounting, it “may well have” avoided the “lost decade” until miscarriages of justice involving subpostmasters were discovered. The public gallery at the inquiry, made up mainly of subpostmasters, groaned loudly after Ms Vennells said she did not remember if she took the “advice of the PR guy” not to review past prosecutions.
After chair Sir Wyn Williams intervened, Ms Vennells continued: “As I tried to say before, what we were working to at this stage was numbers of cases going through a scheme, and a scheme that was going to be opened up to anybody who wanted to come forward.
“I understand how this reads, but I don’t recall making any conscious decision not to go back and put in place a review of all past criminal cases.”
After Ms Vennells asked him for his thoughts on whether the business should look at cases going back five to 10 years, Mr Davies said: “If we say publicly that we will look at past cases – and whatever we say to JA (Lord Arbuthnot) or JFSA (Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance) will be public – whether from recent history or going further back, we will open this up very significantly, into front page news.
This story is from the May 24, 2024 edition of The Independent.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the May 24, 2024 edition of The Independent.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Djokovic faces monumental task at the Australian Open
Novak Djokovic could play Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open and may also have to face world No 2 Alexander Zverev and world No 1 Jannik Sinner if he is to win a 25th grand slam title in Melbourne.
Potter's West Ham gamble is a make-or-break moment
Doubts remain over new Hammers man after Chelsea failure
'Woody told us all week we would get Newcastle away!'
After more than a century in the lower tiers, League Two side Bromley FC are finally in the spotlight with their FA Cup tie
Ambitious Everton look for upgrade on the Dyche grind
Sean Dyche was never the manager Everton really wanted.
Everton ease to FA Cup win as team reboot starts
They are not used to cheering the men in the technical area.
THE ART OF NOISE
Alt-popper Ethel Cain lashes listeners with sound on her experimental second LP, 'Perverts'. Helen Brown submits
Kidman is utterly fearless in unabashedly sexy 'Babygirl'
Dutch writer-director Halina Reijn has made a BDSM film rife with fumbling uncertainty, and comedy-drama 'A Real Pain' manages to stay honest,
The secret shame that saw Callas retreat into obscurity
She was the opera diva with a tumultuous and tragic private life but something else would derail her career as one of the greatest singers of all time, as Meghan Lloyd Davies explains
At home with Gen Zzzzz
Being boring has never been more in - but Kate Rossiensky wonders if the humblebore lifestyle is a deflection technique
PLAYING DUMB
As the thoroughly decent (and rather smart) Kasim is ejected from 'The Traitors', Helen Coffey asks whether intelligence has become a hindrance that should be concealed at all costs