Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells shot down recommendation to cease prosecutions, inquiry hears

Paula Vennells shot down recommendations to cease criminal prosecutions of sub-postmasters in 2013, the inquiry into the Horizon scandal has heard.
The inquiry was told on Wednesday that Ms Vennells, who was the chief executive of the Post Office from 2012 to 2019, opposed the view of the rest of its top management team that prosecutions should be halted.
The revelation was made during the testimony of Chris Aujard, the Post Office’s former most senior in-house lawyer, who said he was asked to review its prosecutorial policy when he joined the organisation and had recommended it cease private prosecutions.
#postoffice #inquiry #conviction
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[@BarryR.]

Jail her Remand in custody until a trial

[@mareksquare]

Yes yes yes yes yes!!!!!!!!!!

[@Gritto1445]

Prison time for Vennells I hope.

[@Ortim38]

not a chance, she is establishment.

[@probro9898]

​@Ortim38 I wouldn't be so sure. Until fairly recently they were saying that her CBE was safe. (It matters not one iota that she "gave it back". That was an empty and meaningless gesture. She continued to hold the CBE until the King revoked it - which he would have done anyway.)

[@mickybarnett5332]

She might not jail but the establishment will get her ,they always get there pound of flesh and she knows it😂

[@s.j.bluewater908]

She can’t avoid jail. There would be absolute uproar and it would be the end of post office uk

[@Jazz-tv4qr]

and the rest, PO lawyers included, one big conspiracy.

[@davidc3850]

It's amazing how many of these people being questioned have such poor memories of events isn't it !

[@antonygill5104]

Especially because they convicted innocent people and not by a judge

[@IBIZABIKE]

ask them how much their bonus was that year

[@stephenmani8495]

It looks like the one sure-shot way of avoiding getting dementia is to not take up a job in the Post Office. Almost everybody there seems to suffer from severe memory problems, after working there even for short periods.

[@geoffpulham5032]

I don't think I've ever heard of another organisation that held its employees in such utter contempt.

[@bv3bv334]

THE LYING VICAR

[@jamesbaker429]

The less red ink on the bottom line the greater her bonus became,the system could not be seen to be failing,legal costs were a norm in prosecution of public seen postmasters.the po reputation came first.

[@mareksquare]

Paskudna Wredna Baba Niech się modli o wybaczenie Niech odda co ukradła Jej sasiedzi piszą że się jej wstydzą Do więzienia teraz !!!!!!!!!

[@davidmorris9661]

How isn't this horrible evil wicked woman not in jail bewilderes me,the pain and agony this person caused should not be brushed under the carpet

[@aprilfox1057]

He clearly felt uncomfortable declaring truths.

[@euchrideucrow1970]

She has blood on her hands and should stand trial for manslaughter, at the very least.

[@faodail3913]

She WILL answer to God for it, anyway...in the end.

[@jeremystoker9277]

Vennells' behaviour is all the more amazing when she professes to be a christian and is still an ordained priest.

[@Sandra-tu7pl]

Defrock her, Welby won't he's too frightened.

[@IAt0m1xI]

Because people that work in corporations and have power will do this. Workers should be better protected from this kind of thing

[@geoffnichols3831]

We all know justice will not be done, vennells should go to prison for instigating destroying peoples lives.

[@garybown2682]

A lot of these senior business people (and government minsiters etc) do seem to have terrible memories.

[@DrMontague]

The working class also have terrible dementia, successive governments treat them like muck, rob them blind, cut services yet they still vote them in!

[@richardkent2200]

They should all start a Post Office in Rwanda

[@geoffnichols3831]

Funny how memory loss is so prevalent when they are found to not have done their jobs correctly.

[@geow6100]

Where have I heard that before? I have no recollection!!

[@Mike_5]

It is amazing how many of these bullies are active in their local Churches

[@DieterDuplak314]

parasites know how to get along with their host

[@ianbarr5110]

Someone else with a touch of dementia

[@benwilson6145]

The Post Office Alzheimer's Cluster grows.

[@Yoyoyo224]

Jail him

[@neilcurran1589]

If, now as a lady of the cloth knows she has truly done wrong against people whom she knows to be innocent she should fear a much higher power than an enquiry and her bank balance or possibly going to jail. If she has I truly hope she has real, absolute and utter fear of what she faces just like the post office owners faced.

[@jessicarabbit1138]

Nobody can remember... ☠️

[@Buckbury]

Could there be a less focused incompetent team in business ?.

[@harrybarrow6222]

Fennels deserves more punishment than merely handing back her OBE.

[@rayash5666]

The vicar of perjury

[@barbs574]

Another one can't remember

[@KevinParsons-of6if]

Where the hell is Vennels...get her up in front of a judge and give her a long prison sentence now !!

[@mapala78]

She will be questioned by the enquiry next month.

[@FattyOn2Wheels]

If only they teat the covid investigation as good as this

[@MRJERRYCURTIN]

Yet another no good liar

[@antonygill5104]

The post office should never have been given the power to destroy lives, in law no person is above and every person is entitled to a fair defence in the people's courts and only a judge can pass sentence

[@iandeumayne-jones1557]

I don't recall. I don't think so. I don't remember that! They have all got the same script.

[@garyh5541]

Vennells ! Disgraceful!!!

[@user-wm1lp1yt9z]

Post office scandal, i don’t recall anything about it.

[@lesparton2069]

I have no recollection is the standard defence by these individuals. Who gave them the text? Lawyers???

[@highmyope-ps2by]

Throw the key away.

[@nannieg7622]

“Limited recollection “ & “ I cannot recall “ ! So convenient

[@camd5348]

Lock her up

[@timallen6025]

Ooh what qualifications were P O looking for in senior management applications ? Because they sure employed some absolute wrong uns !

[@markjohnston7869]

It is way past time that she was on trial and remanded until it is decided.

[@andyrbush]

No recollection?

[@faodail3913]

Individuals need to be sued. Start with Paula.

[@bobdylan7120]

A Public Inquiry with no teeth, simply the ability to make recommendations that will be completely ignored. Afterwards, because of this Inquiry, the CPS will determine that it would be impossible for the guilty parties to receive a fair trial, so the whole matter will be dropped. The guilty people will keep their jobs, their salaries, their bonuses and their pensions and will, once again, laugh at the taxpaying public who are funding this charade.

[@taty335]

Can someone explain me what is going on? Whats is the inquiry for? I dont understand 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@portcullis5622]

It is to appease the media and to quell the public outcry. Most of us know that it is very unlikely that a single prosecution will result from this. The likes of Paula Vennels, Tim Parker, Adam Crozier, Ed Davey and other managers and PO Ministers will all walk away unpunished. Even those egregious PO investigators, most of whom have developed amnesia (since the ITV Post Office Scandal programmes over Christmas) will all walk away from this, lie low for a while and then walk into overpaid jobs somewhere else. That is the way of things in this country. As a nation, we are too apathetic and don't get angry often enough, or for long enough. We are far too passive and tolerant of lying bullies, both in business and in politics.

[@alridd7038]

They can u everything that happened right down to just before they need to recollect the truth!!

[@bhangmaster]

More word salad to cover up lies.

[@philhart4849]

Paula Vennells has done an Icarus. I can see her free falling into the North Sea at a speed of 300 kph.

[@dominionphilosophy3698]

Looks like they have found their scapegoat then! Poor Paula, thrown under the bus by the vermin she led. They should all, of course, be in prison at this point.

[@faodail3913]

Poor Paula???

[@richardkent2200]

She might take flight to Rwanda

[@davidseaton3121]

Let's not forget honoured by the Tory Government CBE for services to the Tories.

[@ritaarmitage2055]

WHY WHY WHY ???

[@grahamf695]

In other words, Paula Vennells believed that some postmasters were committing fraud and she didn’t want them to get away with it. That seems to be an understandable position, provided they were not just relying on Horizon data so substantiate the charges. If it became public that the Post Office never prosecuted postmasters under any circumstances, then fraud would be likely to increase.