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Unlike the previous two days, when she was questioned by lead counsel for the inquiry Jason Beer KC, today she will be quizzed directly by legal teams representing some of the victims of the scandal, which has been described as “the biggest single series of wrongful convictions in British legal history” by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
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The hearing is scheduled to begin at 9.45am, and you will be able to watch it here. The feed has a three minute time delay.
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Important Events
Paula Vennells I have arrived at Aldwych House in London for today’s hearing, which is due to begin at 9.45am.
As a reminder, this investigation is being carried out because more than 700 sub-postmasters were prosecuted and convicted by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications between 1999 and 2015, when Fujitsu’s flawed Horizon IT system was known to have a bug that caused money to appear to disappear at branches.
Hundreds of sub-postmasters are still waiting for compensation for the damage done to their lives and reputations.
MPs in Parliament last night agreed to the amendments made in the House of Lords. Post Office (Horizon System) Crime BillIt will allow hundreds of convictions in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to be quashed by subpostmasters without going through the Court of Appeal – only Royal Assent is required to take effect.
Again, members of the Justice for Postmasters Alliance (JFSA) rallied ahead of the hearing in London, carrying protest banners with demands including “identify those responsible and hold them to account”.
At yesterday’s session, Paula Vennells acknowledged she “probably” hoped that the arbitration system with subpostmasters would “minimise compensation”.
Mr Vennells acknowledged that an email sent in August 2013 had said “the aim of mediation is to avoid or minimise compensation payments” but made it sound as if subpostmasters would only be accepted into the scheme if they agreed to “get a pat on the head and receive a token payment”.
She told the Horizon IT inquiry she did not believe the reconciliation scheme set up by the Post Office for people who believe they have been wrongly prosecuted was designed to pay out “significant amounts of money”, PA Media reported.
In 2011, she set out in an email her “objective” that all media organisations “should seek out and refute any negative comments”. She made the comments after being informed of a Private Eye article about the Horizon IT system and criticism from the deputy postmaster general.
The investigation also found the former chief executive followed a “highly inappropriate” suggestion not to investigate all prosecutions of subpostmasters after the communications director said it would “be front-page news”.
The hearing, made up mainly of subpostmasters, elicited loud groans after Ms Vennells said she could not remember whether she had received “public relations advice” to review past charges. Lead lawyer Jason Beer KC told Ms Vennells that although she had said in her written evidence that legal advice had been withheld, it appeared she had received legal advice from her heads of public relations and IT.
Our Chief Correspondent, Dan Boffeywatched the session yesterday and here is his report:
Welcome and opening summary…
The Post Office’s former CEO, Paula Vennells, is due to face a third day of questioning at the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry in London today.
On the previous two days he was questioned by the inquiry’s lead counsel Jason Beer KC, but today he will be questioned directly by lawyers representing victims of the scandal described by the Criminal Cases Review Commission as “the largest series of wrongful convictions in the history of English law”.
The hearing is scheduled to begin at 9:45 a.m. and can be viewed here. There will be a three-minute delay in the feed.
