Achi news desk-
The 65-year-old ordained priest was also upset as the inquiry looked into the Post Office’s response to the suicide of sub-postmaster Martin Griffiths in 2013.
As she gave evidence on Wednesday, Ms Vennells admitted she had “made mistakes” but denied there was a conspiracy to cover up the scandal.
He apologized for a comment he made to MPs in June 2012, when he said that sub-postmasters had been “tempted to put their hands in the till” – adding that it was an “assumption” he had made.
The former chief executive said there was “no incentive” to put the needs of the Post Office over the suffering of sub-postmasters but added: “There will be many examples where that is clearly the case because the Post Office got it wrong right.”
He told the inquiry that an email he sent to colleagues suggesting the company’s priority was to protect subpostmasters for whom the Horizon system works “read poorly today”.
Ms Vennells began her evidence by apologizing for “all that sub-postmasters and families have suffered”.
When asked if she was the “unluckiest CEO in the UK”, she said she had been “too trusting”.
After detailing a number of cases where the Post Office had been unsuccessful after sub-postmasters blamed Horizon, inquiry counsel Jason Beer KC asked: “Why were you telling these parliamentarians that all prosecutions are involved in the Horizon system has been successful and found favor with the Post Office?”
After a brief pause when she appeared to compose herself, Ms Vennells said: “I now fully accept that the Post Office…”
She cut off her answer to grab a tissue and held her head in her hands for a brief moment before recomposing herself.
Ms Vennells continued: “The Post Office knew that and I fully accepted it.
“Personally I didn’t know that and I’m very sorry that it happened to those people and to so many other people.”
Of her comment that sub-postmasters are being led into temptation, Ms Vennells said: “That’s a harder one to talk about.
“The first thing I would say on that is to apologise, because I’m well aware that wasn’t true and it was an assumption I made.”
Ms Vennells explained that the assumption was based on “case examples” and what she had been told.
She also seemed to get emotional as Mr Beer asked her about Mr Griffiths.
An email chain between former Post Office general counsel Susan Crichton and Ms Vennells was shown to the inquiry, in which Ms Vennells said “if it is an attempted suicide, as we unfortunately know, there are many contributing factors as usual”.
Asked why she was bringing up contributing factors, she said she was “very sorry”, adding: “Every email you see from me about Mr Griffiths, I start with him and how he was and how his family is
“The Post Office took far too long to deal with it.”
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She was also shown an email she sent to former general counsel and company secretary Jane MacLeod, former communications director Mark Davies, and current chief financial officer Alisdair Cameron.
The email read: “Our priority is to protect the business and the thousands who operated under the same rules and did not get into trouble.”
He told the inquiry on Wednesday: “I’m sorry first of all because this reads badly today.
“That’s not how I intended it to be read.
“I had been told, and the investigation has heard other people say the same, that nothing had been found and so my understanding at the moment was that the way the business was operating was an acceptable way , and what I was trying to say here is that we need to make sure that the business as it was operating remains our priority.”
Asked about what Mr Cameron previously told the inquiry – that Ms Vennells did not believe there had been any miscarriage of justice during her time in office – she said: “I think that’s right.”
Mr Beer also asked if she believed there was “a conspiracy in the Post Office… to deny you information and to refuse you documents and to give you false assurances”.
Ms Vennells replied: “No, I don’t think that was the case.”
He continued: “I have been disappointed, especially more recently, when listening to evidence from the inquiry where I think I remember people knowing more than they may have remembered at the time or that I knew about it at the time.
“I have no sense that there is any conspiracy at all. My deep sadness in this regard is that I think individuals, including myself, have made mistakes, not seen things, not heard things.
“Maybe I’m wrong but that’s not the impression I got at the time. I have more questions now but a plot feels too far away.”
The inquest heard that Ms Vennells had prepared a 775 page witness statement, which took seven months to write.
Hundreds of subpostmasters were sued by the business between 1999 and 2015 after Horizon, owned by Japanese company Fujitsu, made it appear as if money was missing from their branches.
The Metropolitan Police previously said they were looking at “potential fraud offenses” arising from the prosecution of sub-postmasters, such as “money recovered as a result of prosecutions or civil actions”.
Two Fujitsu experts, who were witnesses in the trials, are being investigated for perjury and perverting the course of justice, but no one has been arrested since the investigation was launched in January 2020.
It is unlikely that there will be any criminal charges until the chairman of the inquiry, Sir Wyn Williams, has completed his final report, which is expected to be published next year.
Hundreds of sub-postmasters are still waiting for compensation even though the Government has announced that those who have had their convictions expunged are eligible for £600,000 in payouts.
