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Post Office latest: Lawyer deeply sorry for sub-postmasters' 'suffering', inquiry hears - BBC News Post Office latest: Paula Vennells wanted Post Office prosecutions to continue - lawyer - BBC News
(32 minutes later)
Simon Jack We've heard a lot about the views of Paula Vennells, the former Post Office chief executive between 2012 and 2019.
Business editor She took over as Post Office managing director in 2010, and stayed in the top job until she resigned in April 2019 over the scandal.
The Post Office's former head During her tenure, the Post Office repeatedly denied there were problems with the Horizon system.
in-house lawyer Chris Aujard has told the inquiry he remembers Paula Vennells opposing This period saw the prosecution of more than 100 sub-postmasters, a failed mediation scheme, and the sub-postmasters' court case culminating in a victory in the High Court.
a view from the rest of the top management team prosecutions of postmasters should be paused. A part-time Church of England vicar, she became one of the most recognisable faces of the scandal, featuring prominently in the ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office.
The former Post Office general counsel said: "My recollection is She was stripped of her CBE in February 2024, a month after she said she would hand back her title following the Horizon IT scandal.
that the executive committee were in favour of ceasing prosecutions entirely.
"But, when that
proposition was discussed at the committee, Paula interjected or made the
comment that proposition should not be taken as what I’d intended it to be –
never bringing prosecutions – but rather there should be limited prosecutorial
activity and PO should continue to take some prosecutions".
When asked whether she
seemed in favour of continuing to pursue cases relying on Horizon data, Aujard said Vennells was not specific at the time.
The Post Office's
leading in-house lawyer is essentially saying Paula Vennells was
determined to continue to prosecute post masters despite reservations of the
executive committee and his own.
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