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Post Office inquiry live: Ex-boss Paula Vennells sorry for suffering of sub-postmasters - BBC News Post Office inquiry live: Ex-boss Paula Vennells sorry for suffering of sub-postmasters - BBC News
(32 minutes later)
Sam Hancock Vennells is asked over whether she could be criticised for seeing problems as being beyond her control as an "alibi", which she firmly denies.
Reporting from the inquiry She tells Beer that she took a very active role in managing the Post Office, laying out a series of different examples of her work - including that was sometimes seen as being "too curious and stepping into other people's territory".
Some of us in the room were saying before Paula Vennells came out that an apology was likely. And yet what she just said somehow still felt like a bit of a shock.
Turning her chair to face everyone watching today - including a number of former sub-postmasters and postmistresses - she said she was sorry for everything they and their families had "suffered" and was glad she could say so in person.
Vennells said she had listened to all the personal statements of those affected and had been "very affected" by them. She said she'd answer all questions truthfully today, and acknowledged this would at times be difficult, but asked for some "understanding".
I noted a couple of headshakes in the crowd but very little else - it was a moment where the silence was really very palpable.
There are people in this room who were sent to prison on the basis of convictions brought by the Post Office, which have since been overturned. That must've been a very big moment for them, whether they accept Vennells' apology or not.
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