Shamed Post Office boss Paula Vennells accused of living in ‘la-la land’ as she faced more questions at Horizon inquiry
SHAMED Post Office boss Paula Vennells was today accused of living in “la-la land”.
The former CEO broke down in tears as she faced a third day of questions at the Horizon inquiry.
She was also booed by onlookers for her dismissive comments in an email about campaigning subpostmistress Jo Hamilton.
And the subpostmasters’ lawyer Edward Henry KC turned the screw when he cast doubt on her claims that she did not know about faults with the Horizon system when Post Office lawyers were aware of them.
He challenged her: “You’re saying that you didn’t, the board didn’t — I mean, this is la-la land, isn’t it?”
Ms Vennells replied: “I don’t recall that at all from the time. If our external lawyers were aware of that, and that was shared within the Post Office at the time, it is completely unacceptable.”
The 65-year-old was the Post Office’s chief executive between 2012 and 2019, earning a total of £5.1million.
She was in charge when the faulty Horizon IT system led to hundreds of subpostmasters being wrongfully convicted for theft, fraud and false accounting.
Asked yesterday whether she had only herself to blame, she said: “Absolutely. Where I made mistakes and where I made the wrong calls, where I had information and I made the wrong calls, yes, of course.”
Mr Henry said: “What I’m going to suggest to you is that whatever you did was deliberate, considered and calculated.
“No one deceived you, no one misled you. You set the agenda and the tone for the business.”
Ms Vennells said: “I did my very best through this, and it wasn’t good enough, and that is a regret I carry with me.”
She was booed over her comments after a 2014 BBC One Show programme about campaigning subpostmasters.
She said in an email that Ms Hamilton “lacked passion” and that she was “more bored than outraged” by the programme.
Yesterday Ms Vennells apologised directly to her, saying: “I’m deeply sorry that I was so rude to you in that email.”