Vennells denies having inkling convictions were unsafe despite Bates email

Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells has claimed she had no inkling subpostmaster convictions were unsafe in 2013 despite a “concerning” email from lead campaigner Alan Bates.

Mr Bates told Ms Vennells that he was “surprised” she had not offered to meet him “bearing in mind what has been discovered so far” – referring to the work of independent forensic accountants Second Sight.

The 65-year-old ordained priest said the Post Office did want “reassurance” the Horizon system could be relied upon but denied seeking to persuade Second Sight to come to a conclusion favourable to the company.

She told the probe she was unaware there was a view among the company’s lawyers that reviewing a large number of cases might “open the floodgates” to damages claims by subpostmasters.

Ms Vennells was answering questions as part of her second day of evidence to the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry on Thursday after an emotional first day which saw her become visibly upset on a number of occasions and break down in tears twice.

She apologised for her actions during the scandal 23 times during her first day of evidence, according to the inquiry’s official transcript.

Forensic accountants from Second Sight were drafted in to independently review cases involving the Horizon system in 2012.

Asked if after reading a line in its interim report that there were “no systemic defects” in the system, the Post Office “paraded that conclusion”, Ms Vennells said: “It did come to that conclusion in its interim report.

“There is no way I would have wanted to persuade Second Sight on something they were not prepared to say and I don’t believe Second Sight would ever have agreed to that.

“If they came to that conclusion in their interim report, that was their conclusion.”

Counsel to the inquiry Jason Beer KC then asked: “Isn’t that what the Post Office wanted to drive them to and isn’t this the evidence of such driving?”

Ms Vennells replied: “The Post Office certainly wanted the reassurance that the Horizon system could be relied upon – that has been the objective all the way through this.

“At no stage did I get the sense that anybody in the Post Office was going to be able to influence Second Sight over what conclusions they came to.

“I would be very surprised if that was the case here.”

Mr Bates emailed Ms Vennells on May 21 2013, saying he had “little doubt that it is now feasible to show that many of the prosecutions that the Post Office have pressed home should never have taken place”.

Referring to the work of Second Sight, Mr Bates said: “Bearing in mind what has been discovered so far, I for one am surprised that we haven’t yet met to discuss the implications.

“Whilst I appreciate that the majority of the issues began under previous regimes and you have expressed a genuine willingness to address the concerns that JFSA (Justice For Subpostmasters Alliance) has been raising, these issues are still continuing.

“I have little doubt that it is now feasible to show that many of the prosecutions that POL (Post Office Limited) have pressed home should never have taken place.”

Mr Beer asked: “Would you have been very concerned reading an email like this that the person representing a key stakeholder, JFSA, was saying that the prosecutions, and many of them, that the Post Office had brought ought never to have taken place?”

She replied: “I was concerned to get the email from Alan, certainly.

“The point he was making about prosecutions was the point the JFSA made for a number of years – that wasn’t new news to me at this stage.”

Mr Beer continued: “Is that how you would have thought of it, that this is just Mr Bates saying something that he’s always said?”

The former Post Office boss replied: “No, not at all.”

Mr Beer then said: “Had you been given any inkling that anything had emerged that might undermine the safety of convictions?”

Ms Vennells responded: “No.”

More than 700 subpostmasters were prosecuted by the Post Office and handed criminal convictions between 1999 and 2015 as Fujitsu’s faulty Horizon IT system made it appear as though money was missing at their branches.

Hundreds of subpostmasters are still awaiting compensation despite the Government announcing that those who have had convictions quashed are eligible for £600,000 payouts.