Hidden faces of Post Office scandal – individuals in energy lurking in background

The broadly talked about four-part collection Mr Bates vs the Post Office has left viewers appalled at how the lives of unusual women and men had been left in tatters after a glitchy laptop accounting system wrongly detected monetary shortfalls in Post Office branches up and down the UK.

As defined within the usually heartbreaking ITV drama, greater than 736 innocent people had been prosecuted by the Post Office between the years 2000 and 2014, leading to chapter, jail sentences, and substantial reputational injury. Tragically, it is understood that no less than 4 situations of suicide have been linked to the horrible toll the ordeal took on so many.

Regarded as the best miscarriage of justice in British historical past, a lot of these affected are nonetheless enduring painful waits to get their names cleared, whereas these on the prime continued to guide lives of success and privilege. While individuals up and down the nation name for the victims’ convictions to be overturned, we check out these within the background of the disaster, a few of whom nonetheless get pleasure from influential positions of energy.

Paula Vennells

Paula Vennells first joined the Post Office as group community director in 2007, and, in 2012, promoted to Post Office chief government. Vennells led the Post Office at a time when 555 postmasters had been taken to the High Court and, in a number of circumstances, left in monetary spoil.

The former businesswoman, who centres prominently in Mr Bates, stepped down from her place in 2019, one 12 months after being awarded a CBE within the New Year’s Honours List. At the time, the Post Office acknowledged that this honoured marked Venneell’s contribution to turning the organisation from one which ‘was shedding £120m a 12 months to 1 which is now in revenue’.

In her letter of response to the BEIS Select Committee’s 2020 Inquiry into Horizon, Vennells wrote that she had ‘raised the query repeatedly, each internally and with Fujitsu’, as as to whether department data might be accessed remotely, and ‘was all the time given the identical reply: that it was not doable for department information to be altered remotely with out the sub-postmaster’s data’.

Following her resignation, Vennells, who’s an ordained Church of England deacon, went on to work as affiliate minister within the Diocese of St Albans. She additionally beforehand held posts as director of the board for retail chains Morrisons and Dunelm, and the chair of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.

In April 2021, Vennells, who was appointed as a Cabinet Office advisor in 2019, acknowledged that she was ‘actually sorry’ for the ‘struggling’ prompted after 39 former subpostmasters had their convictions overturned. She acknowledged: “It is obvious that my involvement with the Post Office has become a distraction from the good work undertaken in the Diocese of St Albans and in the parishes I serve. I have therefore stepped back with immediate effect from regular parish ministry, and intend to focus fully on working with the ongoing Government inquiry to ensure the affected subpostmasters and wider public get the answers they deserve.”

A petition that clocked up multiple million names known as upon the federal government to strip Vennells of her CBE, with a passage arguing: “Paula Vennells has subsequently refused to answer questions from these staff as well as the media and has refused to apologise for the cover-up, misery and trauma caused which has brought not only herself but the Post Office, the honours system and government into disrepute.” It has since been introduced that Vennells will now hand again the honour with speedy impact.

This week, Vennells introduced she would return her CBE, issuing a uncommon assertion. She mentioned: “I continue to support and focus on co-operating with the inquiry and expect to be giving evidence in the coming months. I have so far maintained my silence as I considered it inappropriate to comment publicly while the inquiry remains ongoing and before I have provided my oral evidence. I am, however, aware of the calls from sub-postmasters and others to return my CBE.

“I’ve listened and I affirm that I return my CBE with speedy impact. I’m actually sorry for the devastation prompted to the sub-postmasters and their households, whose lives had been torn aside by being wrongly accused and wrongly prosecuted on account of the Horizon system. I now intend to proceed to give attention to helping the inquiry and won’t make any additional public remark till it has concluded.”

A representative for Vennells previously told the Mirror that she is determined to assist in whatever way she can so that lessons are learned.

Fujitsu

Ms Vennells told a court hearing that Fujitsu had assured her that it was not possible for the sub-postmaster’s Horizon boxes to be accessed remotely and that the system was sound. However, in 2019, a High Court judge ruled that Horizon was not ‘remotely robust’ between the years 2000 and 2010 and that it had various ‘bugs, errors and defects’. As recently reported by ITV News, Fujitsu, the firm behind Horizon, is still regarded as one of the government’s ‘Strategic Suppliers’, which usually means it makes more than £100 million in contracts each year. This comes amid calls for the government to freeze out any contracts with Fujitsu altogether.

Lord Arbuthnot and Baron Falconer are also now leading a petition for Fujitsu to compensate victims while calling for a full statutory public inquiry “without the restrictions and limitations of the current one”. In a column penned for The Sunday Times, the peers wrote: “The inquiry needs to examine in detail the role of Fujitsu, which provided and managed the faulty software. Was Fujitsu completely unaware of the devastating effect of its actions? Should it not contribute to the compensation claims of hundreds of sub-postmasters?”

A Fujitsu spokesperson instructed the Mirror: “The current Post Office Horizon IT statutory Inquiry is examining complex events stretching back over 20 years to understand who knew what, when, and what they did with that knowledge. The Inquiry has reinforced the devastating impact on postmasters’ lives and that of their families, and Fujitsu has apologised for its role in their suffering. Fujitsu is fully committed to supporting the Inquiry in order to understand what happened and to learn from it. Out of respect for the Inquiry process, it would be inappropriate for Fujitsu to comment further at this time.”

Sir Ed Davey

Liberal Democrat chief Sir Ed Davey held the place of postal affairs minister from 2010 to 2012 and has beforehand come beneath scrutiny for his obvious failure to behave. Former sub-postmaster Alan Bates, who led the combat for justice, has acknowledged that Davey refused to satisfy with him to debate the marketing campaign when approached in 2010, stating that he did not ‘consider a gathering would serve any helpful goal’.

In a letter addressed to Bates, as reported by BBC News, Davey acknowledged that the federal government and the Post Office had an ‘arms size relationship’, and so the organisation had ‘the industrial freedom to run its enterprise operations with out interference’. He continued: “The integrity of the Post Office Horizon system is an operational and contractual matter for POL [Post Office Ltd], whilst I do appreciate your concerns… I do not believe a meeting would serve any useful purpose.”

Davey did meet with Bates in October 2010 and says he was the primary postal affairs minister to take action since campaigners started pushing for a dialogue again in 2003. During a current interview with Times Radio, Davey expressed regrets about not doing extra to assist, claiming: “I feel that I was deeply misled by Post Office executives… they didn’t come clean. There were definitely attempts to stop me from meeting [campaigners]. We were clearly misled. I think ministers from all political parties were misled.”

A Liberal Democrat spokesperson instructed the Mirror: “Ed has said that he wishes he knew then what we all know now – that the Post Office was lying to victims, him and other ministers on an industrial scale. This was a conspiracy on a grand scale perpetrated against hundreds of postmasters, and ministers across the political spectrum for two decades. His focus now is on getting justice and compensation as quickly as possible to all those affected.”

Adam Crozier

Former Saatchi & Saatchi boss Adam Crozier was appointed Royal Mail chief government again in 2003, with a give attention to modernising the corporate. It was throughout Crozier’s seven-year tenure that the Post Office started hitting again in defence over issues in regards to the reliability of the Horizon system.

Former sub-postmaster Chris Trousdale, who was identified with post-traumatic stress dysfunction (PTSD) after being convicted for accounting irregularities at his Yorkshire publish workplace, believes Crozier has inquiries to reply. Speaking through the public enquiry, Trousdale mentioned: “When I was prosecuted, Adam Crozier was the chief executive. I think he should be here answering questions, as well as all the other heads of the Post Office. I don’t think there is anyone who should be allowed to get away with this.”

Trousdale, whose conviction has since been overturned, continued: “Bosses were paid bonuses based on performance. Victims’ money [paid to balance shortfalls] in my opinion was going into the pockets of those that had persecuted them.” After Royal Mail in 2010, Crozier went on to turn into chief government of ITV in addition to a director of ITV Studios – a reality famous by a variety of those that puzzled why he did not seem as a personality within the current ITV drama.

An ITV spokesperson beforehand instructed the Mirror: “Mr Bates vs The Post Office tells the story of the Post Office scandal from the perspective of a select group of former subpostmasters who formed the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance, led by Alan Bates. Alan’s campaign for justice only began to make headway when Paula Vennells was promoted to Chief Executive, so that’s the relationship we dramatise.”

The Times stories that associates of Crozier just lately acknowledged that he stands prepared to assist with the continuing inquiry if requested to take action.

Alice Perkins

Former civil servant Alice Perkins, who’s married to Labour politician Jack Straw, earned £100,000 a 12 months as Post Office chairwoman between the years 2011 and 2015, a interval when 120 sub-postmasters had been prosecuted. By this level, MPs had been beginning to ask questions in regards to the Horizon scandal, and, in 2012, Perkins and group community director Vennells held a gathering with the MPs James Arbuthnot and Oliver Letwin to debate their issues.

During the dialogue, they promised to be ‘open and clear’ over the controversy, whereas on a separate event, they assured MPs that Horizon had since been up to date and had ‘full help’ of the National Federation Of SubPostmasters. As reported by Private Eye, nevertheless, a choose later mentioned that MPs ‘had been entitled to count on correct data however ‘didn’t obtain it’ stating that the promise of transparency ‘was not correct’. In 2021, Perkins apologised for the ‘deep misery’ attributable to the scandal.

Tim Parker

A non-public fairness tycoon and former chief of excessive road shoe firm Clarks, Tim Parker joined the Post Office as chairman in 2015, and supported the manager board as they confronted Post Office managers within the civil courts.

Mr Parker introduced he can be stepping down from his place in September 2022, mere days earlier than the general public enquiry started, Two years earlier, in October 2020, he acknowledged there had been ‘historic failings’. As beforehand reported by The Guardian, Mr Parker mentioned: “I am sincerely sorry on behalf of the Post Office for historical failings which seriously affected some postmasters. Post Office is resetting its relationship with postmasters with reforms that prevent such past events ever happening again. All postmasters entitled to claim civil compensation because of their convictions being overturned [should be] recompensed as quickly as possible.”

Post Office scandal sufferer Damian Owen, whose conviction was overturned in 2021, instructed the enquiry that he acquired an apology from Parker, however described it as ‘probably the most feeble apology I’ve ever acquired from anybody in my life’, remarking that the letter instructed these affected to ‘please be at liberty to contact me’, regardless of giving no contact particulars.

Dame Moya Greene

Dame Moya Greene was chief government on the Post Office from 2010 to 2018, taking on the publish a 12 months after former sub-postmasters instructed their tales to Computer Weekly. In 2011, exterior auditors warned Greene that that they had recognized weaknesses within the Horizon system they believed may ‘result in… unauthorised or misguided transactions’.

However, Greene accepted assurances from Post Office bosses that the circumstances had been being dealt with appropriately, as per the Mail Online. Canadian-born Greene, who earned £12 million over the course of her tenure, was named Sunday Times Business Person of the Year in 2014. At the time of writing, she has but to deal with the scandal publicly.

Alan Cook

Alan Cook labored as Post Office managing director between the years 2006 to 2010, a interval throughout which 161 sub-postmasters had been prosecuted and 57 imprisoned. In a letter addressed to MP Brooks Newmark, dated October 13, 2009, Cook acknowledged in good religion that Horizon had been ‘very strong since its introduction some ten years in the past’, including that ‘all new software program releases are additionally topic to rigorous testing+’.

He continued: “We do take the concerns of sub-postmasters extremely seriously and we do thoroughly investigate matters when they are raised with us but there has never been any evidence found that shows that the Horizon system has caused accounting errors. […] I am satisfied that there is no evidence to doubt the integrity of the Horizon system and that it is robust and fit for purpose.”

Cook went on to chair Highways England in addition to the mutual insurer LV. In 2021, an LV spokesperson mentioned: “While it would not be appropriate for LV to comment on Post Office matters relating to Alan Cook’s tenure with them, I can assure you that he has deep sympathy for those postmasters wrongly prosecuted. Furthermore, he is supportive of the recently announced Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry as it seeks to provide critical answers to everyone affected.”

David Smith

Former Parcelforce managing director David Smith took up the identical place in 2010, at across the similar time that the Horizon scandal began making headlines. Although Smith commissioned an inside report into Horizon, the general public inquiry discovered that he requested report writer Rob Ismay, former head of product and department accounting, to simply give ‘optimistic causes to be assured about Horizon’

When requested by Jason Beer KC whether or not he’d been instructed to ‘current one aspect of the coin’, Ismay agreed that this was certainly correct.

Angela van den Bogerd

Angela van den Bogerd, who was performed by former Coronation Street star Katherine Kelly in Mr Bates, was appointed as enterprise enchancment officer at Royal Mail, having beforehand labored varied roles over her a few years with the organisation, together with head of partnerships.

As beforehand reported by Private Eye, Van den Bogerd had been fielding complaints about Horizon since 2010 and had sat on a bunch working to deal with the scandal since 2014. Her wide-reaching expertise made her an vital determine through the trial, however her testimony did appeal to criticism from Rt Hon Justice Fraser, who instructed the court docket: “Van den Bogerd did not give me frank evidence, and sought to obfuscate matters, and mislead me.”

After leaving the Post Office in 2020, Van den Bogerd was employed as head of individuals by the Football Association of Wales, nevertheless, she left in 2021 amid criticism over the Post Office scandal.

Michael Keegan

From 2014 to 2018, Michael Keegan, who’s married to schooling secretary Gillian Keegan, labored as chief government and chairman for the UK operative department of Fujitsu, the tech firm behind Horizon. Keegan has denied having any operational involvement throughout his chief government tenure and claims the one determination he made regarding Horizon was to cancel a young in an effort to present the Post Office with a brand new model of the pc system. When he took up his subsequent function as chairman, Keegan has acknowledged that he had no line administration duties.

As reported by the Mail Online, Keegan has additionally mentioned that he solely ever had one dialog with former boss Vennells, throughout which the scandal wasn’t mentioned.

A Post Office spokesperson mentioned: “We fully share the aims of the current Public Inquiry, set up to establish what went wrong in the past and the accountability for it. We are acutely aware of the human cost of the scandal and are doing all we can to right the wrongs of the past, as far as that is possible. Both Post Office and Government are committed to providing full, fair and final compensation for the people affected. To date, offers of compensation totalling more than £138 million have been made to around 2,700 Postmasters, the majority of which have been agreed and paid. Interim payments continue to be made in cases which have not yet been resolved.”

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