The major questions for Post Office boss Paula Vennells to answer as three days of questioning to begin
With protesters gathering and media cameras carefully angled, one of the most important people in the whole Post Office Horizon IT scandal will sit for three full days of questions.
Wednesday is the start of the moment sub-postmaster victims, and likely anyone involved through the years the Post Office injustice was perpetrated, have been waiting for. It’s been five years since the Post Office apologised but victims are awaiting redress and answers they hope Paula Vennells may provide.
Why does Paula Vennells matter?
Former chief executive Ms Vennells was at the helm of the government-owned body during the key Horizon operating years of 2012 to 2019.
She’s been regularly referenced in the inquiry set up to establish a clear account of the introduction and failure of Fujitsu’s Horizon accounting software.
Horizon wrongly generated shortfalls at Post Office branches and led to hundreds of false accounting and theft prosecutions. Many more sub-postmasters racked up significant debts, lost homes and livelihoods, became unwell, left communities and some took their lives as they struggled to repay imaginary losses.
While this is the first opportunity for inquiry barristers to publicly question Ms Vennells, hers has been a continuous presence through the documents presented to dozens of witnesses and the answers they provided.
A previously unknown name, Ms Vennells may now be familiar to the millions who saw a dramatised version of her portrayed in the ITV drama Mr Bates v the Post Office that revived interest in the injustice.
In the wake of the show Ms Vennells, an ordained vicar, gave up her CBE (Commander of the British Empire) and reiterated her apology and regret for the harm caused to sub-postmaster victims.
As she agreed at a government select committee in 2015, the buck stopped with her.
Did she turn a blind eye or take part in a cover-up?
The issue of what Ms Vennells knew and when has been the subject of news reports which detailed the extent of her knowledge of the scandal, years before prosecutions were halted and an apology was issued.
Whether Ms Vennells sought to suppress or minimise evidence or just overlooked it will shed light on why the scandal ran on for as long as it did – from when sub-postmaster and advocate Alan Bates raised issues in 2003 up until 2019 when an apology was issued.
When did she first know sub-postmaster accounts could be altered remotely?
Key to understanding why Ms Vennells acted as she did is when exactly she knew the Post Office’s IT helpdesk or people in Fujitsu could access and edit Post Office branch accounts.
Why did she allow prosecutions to go ahead on the basis there was no remote access, despite legal advice?
Whatever her answer, there’s evidence – in the form of recordings leaked to Sky News – to suggest Ms Vennells had been told of remote access by May 2013, at the latest.
But three years earlier, in 2010 and before Ms Vennells’ tenure as CEO, Post Office prosecutors were alerted to bugs with Horizon, just days before the trial and eventual conviction of sub-postmaster Seema Misra, who was pregnant at the time.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
A former sub-postmistress who was wrongly jailed while pregnant has rejected an apology from a former Post Office executive.
Issues around Post Office convictions were again raised during Ms Vennells term when Simon Clarke, a barrister for a firm advising the organisation, wrote in 2013 that an important Fujitsu witness failed to disclose he knew of bugs, “in plain breach of his duty as an expert witness”.
This put the Post Office “in plain breach of its duty as a prosecutor”, he told the company in his formal legal advice.
Did she authorise £300,000 of legal spending to go after a £25,000 loss?
Sub-postmaster Lee Castleton, recognisable from the Mr Bates Vs The Post Office drama, will be particularly keen to know if Ms Vennells – as former managing director Alan Cook told the inquiry – signed off legal costs of £300,000 to prosecute Mr Castleton for a supposed £25,000 shortfall when she was a network director at the Post Office.
What’s her account of how she got it so wrong? Why did she allow the scandal to continue?
Given the evidence to suggest Ms Vennells was aware of bugs and defects in Horizon years before prosecutions stopped and an apology was made, members of the public and victims alike will want to hear her account of why she did not act to scrap Horizon.
Why did she not act, and apologise, earlier?
Many will want to know why she had such faith in Horizon, Fujitsu and those working for the Post Office when sub-postmasters, MPs representing constituents, legal advisors, and even Second Sight, the forensic accountants hired to investigate were telling her there were problems.
Paula Vennells
What did she think of sub-postmaster complaints against Fujitsu?
Ms Vennells was clearly not so concerned about Horizon that she did anything to minimise its role, not least end it. So what did she think of what sub-postmasters were telling the organisation they were going through – did she think they lacked credibility, or perhaps that they were small in number and easy to ignore?
Why was she closed to the idea of faults in Horizon?
Horizon shortfalls had been discussed at the Post Office for years – why did Ms Vennells believe it was to be trusted over hundreds of sub-postmasters? How did she come to conclude Horizon was robust and claims against it were not?
Why did she say in 2020 the Post Office ‘did not identify’ defects with Horizon?
We do have an understanding of how Ms Vennells viewed the role of the Post Office and its oversight of the scandal – it’s one of ignorance. Since she stood down in 2019 Ms Vennells said the Post Office was unaware and that’s one of the things she’s apologised for.
“I am sorry for the hurt caused to sub-postmasters and colleagues and to their families and I am sorry for the fact that during my tenure as CEO, despite genuinely working hard to resolve the difficulties, Post Office did not identify and address the defects in the Horizon technology,” she wrote in June 2020.
Why did she say this when there’s evidence the Post Office did know?
Follow the questioning of Paula Vennells at the inquiry live on Sky News on Wednesday. Watch Sky News live here, and on YouTube, or on TV on Freeview 233, Sky 501, Virgin 603, and BT 313. You can also follow the latest on the Sky News website and app.
Paula Vennells
Why did she tell Parliament there was ‘no evidence’ of ‘miscarriages of justice’?
There’s a lot to be asked about Ms Vennells previous statements. Top of the list for many will be her answers to a February 2015 meeting of what was then the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) select committee.
At that point – after forensic accountants Second Sight had uncovered and informed her of Horizon bugs – she told the MP committee members there was “no evidence” of “miscarriages of justice”.
Why were forensic accountants, who were getting to the bottom of Horizon issues, sacked?
Sub-postmaster advocate and former MP Lord Arbuthnot said he believed it was because they were getting too close to the truth.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Lord Arbuthnot gives evidence to the Post Office inquiry
Why, when she said she was going to ‘focus fully on working with the ongoing government inquiry’, were her lawyers giving documents to it hours before hearing evidence?
When an inquiry was announced into the scandal in 2020, Ms Vennells said she was going to “focus fully on working with the ongoing government inquiry”.
The inquiry had set a deadline by which all relevant documents were to be submitted, however, 50 additional documents were submitted on behalf of Ms Vennells at 11:17 pm on Thursday night and continued to come on Friday.
Outstanding questions from an earlier inquiry
Another grilling of Ms Vennells was due to take place in March 2020 by MP members of (what was at the time called) the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee.
Given the evolving COVID-19 virus crisis, the hearing was postponed but questions were still asked of Ms Vennells by letter rather than in person.
A number of those questions were not answered.
Committee chair Darren Jones had asked 17 questions but only received 13 answers in her June 2020 written reply.
Whereas she responded to his other questions, these ones received no reply:
• How would you answer those sub-postmasters and postal workers who said that the Post Office investigation branch was more interested in asset recovery than finding the source of errors in Horizon and that they felt they were treated as if they were guilty until proven innocent?
• Did the Post Office Ltd board review the approach and attitude of Post Office investigators at any point during your tenure as CEO? If so, how many times and what was the outcome?
• Were you comfortable as Post Office Ltd CEO that your organisation was prosecuting sub-postmasters without recourse to the CPS [Crown Prosecution Service]?
• The judge in Bates v Post Office stated that Post Office Ltd had operated with a culture of “secrecy and excessive confidentiality”. Did you as Post Office Ltd CEO oversee a culture of “secrecy and excessive confidentiality”; Was Post Office Ltd, as the judge stated, fearful of what it might find if it looked too closely at Horizon?
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
“I continue to support and focus on co-operating with the inquiry,” a statement from Ms Vennells said.
“I am truly sorry for the devastation caused to the sub-postmasters and their families, whose lives were torn apart by being wrongly accused and wrongly prosecuted as a result of the Horizon system.”
“I now intend to continue to focus on assisting the Inquiry and will not make any further public comment until it has concluded,” she added.
UK
Bardia Shojaeifard: Boy, 15, jailed for murder of Alfie Lewis in knife attack outside school in Leeds
A 15-year-old boy who had a “worrying interest in knives” has been jailed for life – with a minimum of 13 years behind bars – for stabbing another teenager to death on the way home from school.
Bardia Shojaeifard was named for the first time today by a judge shortly before he was sentenced for the murder of Alfie Lewis, also 15.
Alfie was stabbed to death in front of pupils leaving a primary school in the Horsforth area of Leeds last November.
The court heard Shojaeifard – who was 14 at the time of the murder – was an “outwardly normal” boy.
He admitted stabbing Alfie with a 13cm-long knife he had brought from home, but denied murder and claimed he was acting in self-defence when he pulled out the blade.
Alfie Lewis
Shojaeifard was found guilty of murdering Alfie by a Leeds Crown Court jury in April.
Mr Justice Cotter removed reporting restrictions that prevented him from being identified on Friday.
He said lifting the defendant’s anonymity would help in the “vitally important debate about the scourge of knife crime, among young people in particular”.
A picture recovered from the phone of Bardia Shojaeifard shows him posing with a knife. Pic: West Yorkshire Police
Pic: West Yorkshire Police
Mr Justice Cotter said the public would be wondering how a young boy “from a loving and supportive family” could commit such an “extraordinary” crime “without forewarning or any warning signs save for some pictures of knives on his phone”.
Alfie was stabbed twice – with a chest wound penetrating his heart and causing “catastrophic bleeding”, West Yorkshire Police said.
He was pronounced dead in hospital a short time later.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Eyewitnesses had said Shojaeifard had approached Alfie and attacked him without provocation – with the victim trying to back away.
Alfie was heard saying “chill out” and “what are you doing?” as Shojaeifard swung at him with the knife.
The attacker later ran off and left the knife near the scene, and was arrested at his home about an hour later.
Detectives believe Shojaeifard had been carrying the kitchen knife all day, and had intended to seek Alfie at home time.
Leeds Crown Court had heard that there had been two previous incidents involving both boys – including one last July that saw Alfie intervene in a fight Shojaeifard was having with another boy.
A week before the deadly attack – on Halloween – Shojaeifard had walked past Alfie’s house with a bag of fireworks, prompting Alfie to say to him: “Give me the bag or something worse than last time is going to happen.”
Read more from Sky News:
Hackers ‘publish stolen blood test data’
Football legend robbed at gunpoint
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
From May: Alfie’s brother thanks jury
Following the sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector Stacey Atkinson said: “Shojaeifard targeted Alfie in a premeditated and planned attack using murderous violence to end his young life, for which there can be no excuse or justification.
“His actions have robbed Alfie of his future and left his family and friends absolutely devastated. No sentence will ever compensate them for their loss.”
Alfie’s mother Heather Lane addressed Shojaeifard directly as she read her victim impact statement in court.
“No sentence will ever be enough for what you have done. I will never, ever forgive you,” she said.
Ms Lane sobbed as she said: “Alfie was my heart and when he was stabbed in the heart it killed me too.”
Alfie’s older brother Antony described him as a “loving and caring little mate” who “never deserved what happened to him”.
Mr Justice Cotter told Shojaeifard: “He had a long life ahead of him and you took that away.
“Knives have stolen so many lives, and you and others must understand how dangerous this obsession is.
“Without your interest in knives, Alfie would be here today.”
UK
UK weather: Heatwave could hit next week – but there’s a big catch for hayfever sufferers thanks to ‘pollen bomb’
High levels of pollen are striking parts of the UK – bringing fresh misery for hayfever sufferers – with forecasts suggesting there could be a heatwave next week.
The Met Office has warned the pollen count will be very high in England for the next five days, extending to Wales and Northern Ireland from Saturday onwards.
By Monday, all but the northernmost parts of Scotland will be affected.
Pic: Met Office
Asthma + Lung UK is urging people with respiratory conditions to take precautions in the week ahead.
The charity’s research suggests pollen is a trigger for 47% of people with asthma, and 27% of those who have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (also known as COPD).
This can cause symptoms like coughing, wheezing, a tight chest and breathlessness to flare up.
Erika Radford, the organisation’s head of health advice, told Sky News: “When pollen particles are breathed in, they can cause inflammation in the airways and get into the lungs, making it harder for those with lung conditions to breathe. This can be terrifying.”
Asthma sufferers have been urged to use their preventer inhaler every day as prescribed, and keep a reliever inhaler nearby at all times – even when at home.
Britons who suffer from hayfever can take antihistamines, ask their GP to prescribe a steroid nasal spray, and avoid going outside as much as possible on high pollen days.
Read more from Sky News:
Popular sunscreens fail safety test
British tourist stabbed to death in Spain
Football legend robbed at gunpoint
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
UK heatwaves: ‘A silent killer’
Other top tips for beating the pollen include:
• Not hanging your washing outdoors
• Having a shower when you’ve been outside
• Keeping windows and doors closed
• Vacuuming and wiping down surfaces regularly
• Taking antihistamines four weeks before symptoms start.
Eating apples and red onions has also been touted as a way of lowering histamine levels.
Pic: Met Office
Heatwave on the horizon
Meanwhile, the Met Office is forecasting higher temperatures as we head into next week – with 30C (86F) possible in isolated spots.
While Friday and Saturday are looking less settled, fine conditions are set to return on Sunday, and temperatures could be in the mid-20s for many in the days that follow.
Check the five-day weather forecast where you are
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Chief forecaster Neil Armstrong said: “Some central and southern areas are likely to see temperatures approaching the values needed for heatwave conditions.
“Heatwave conditions need to remain in situ for three consecutive days, and by the middle of next week it is possible that some parts of the UK could be reaching heatwave thresholds.”
He anticipates “the finest conditions and highest temperatures so far this year” – but lower overnight temperatures are set to offer some respite for those who struggle with the heat.
Sky meteorologist Steff Gaulter added: “We’ve a plume of hot, humid air coming up from the south which will start to affect us from Sunday.
“This will bring a fair amount of cloud for some places, but in the sunniest spots we’re likely to see temperatures of 27C on Sunday, 28C Monday and 29C on Tuesday and Wednesday. This might be a bit of a shock to some people after the rather lacklustre start to summer we’ve had so far!
“We’re not all going to see these temperatures though and there will be some rain affecting the western parts. The highest temperatures look most likely in central and eastern England.
“Then on Wednesday, it looks like we’ll see a thundery breakdown, but in weather terms this is still a long way off, so we’ll have to keep you posted on that.”
UK
NHS cyber attack: Sensitive data stolen from blood test provider by criminal group ‘published online’
Sensitive data stolen from an NHS provider in a cyber attack has apparently been published online.
NHS England says a criminal group claims it has released patient information hacked from Synnovis, which provides pathology services on blood tests.
Synnovis, which provides services primarily in southeast London, was the victim of a ransomware attack, understood to be carried out by Russian group Qilin, on 3 June.
Election latest:
Audience shouts ‘shame’ at PM
In a statement on Friday morning, NHS England said: “NHS England has been made aware that the cyber criminal group published data last night which they are claiming belongs to Synnovis and was stolen as part of this attack.
“We understand that people may be concerned by this and we are continuing to work with Synnovis, the National Cyber Security Centre and other partners to determine the content of the published files as quickly as possible.
“This includes whether it is data extracted from the Synnovis system, and if so whether it relates to NHS patients.
“As more information becomes available through Synnovis’ full investigation, the NHS will continue to update patients and the public.”
The cyber criminal group shared almost 400GB of data – including patient names, dates of birth, NHS numbers and descriptions of blood tests – on their darknet site and Telegram channel, the BBC said.
Spreadsheets containing financial arrangements between hospitals and GP services and Synnovis were also published, the BBC reported.
Synnovis said in a statement on Friday morning: “We know how worrying this development may be for many people. We are taking it very seriously and an analysis of this data is already under way.”
More than 320 planned operations and 1,294 outpatient appointments were postponed at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust between 10 and 16 June, the second week after the attack.
Read more
GP fears NHS data theft will harm patients
Parties must ‘grow up and tackle care crisis’
Co-star ‘heartbroken’ after Donald Sutherland dies
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Since the first week after the attack (3 to 9 June), the number of rearranged planned operations has gone down by 494, but a further 394 outpatient appointments have been missed.
So far, the data theft has led to more than 1,100 planned operations and 2,100 outpatient appointments to be postponed, according to NHS England London figures.
Urgent and emergency services have remained available as usual.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports3 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Environment1 year agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports8 months agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment1 year agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Environment1 year agoTesla advances Powerwall pilot project with German electric company