The ongoing public inquiry into the Post Office scandal has taken a dramatic turn with the discovery of dozens of “damning” tapes containing shocking conversations between senior Post Office staff, including former chief executive Paula Vennells. The scandal, which resulted in 230 former postmasters and postmistresses being wrongfully jailed, has been labeled one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history.
Dozens of ‘damning’ tapes have been uncovered by a public inquiry into the Post Office scandal which includes shocking conversations between senior bossesPA
According to GB News, Paula Vennells, who served as managing director and then chief executive from 2010 to 2019, is now under intense scrutiny. The tapes, estimated to be around 80 in total, are expected to expose covert conversations within the Post Office’s top brass, shedding light on potential cover-ups and negligence.
The revelations from the tapes are poised to further implicate Vennells, who is already facing calls to hand back her CBE. Critics argue that she failed to investigate faults in the Horizon system, the computer system at the center of the scandal, leading to innocent individuals being wrongly accused of theft due to apparent account shortfalls caused by the faulty technology.
A source close to the inquiry revealed that the tapes capture conversations involving Paula Vennells and other high-ranking Post Office officials, describing them as “very damning.” The contents of these tapes could play a pivotal role in determining accountability and the extent of knowledge among senior management regarding the flaws in the Horizon system.
The public inquiry has already exposed instances where Vennells defended the Horizon system as early as 2009, sending a company-wide “Horizon defense piece” to support the computer system. However, reports between 2010 and 2013 indicated vulnerabilities in the system, and advice in 2013 suggested a senior IT expert might have misled criminal trials by withholding information about bugs.
Kevin Hollinrake, the postal affairs minister, has called for Vennells to return her CBE, stating that if he were in her position, he would hand it back. He emphasized the need for accountability, asserting that taking responsibility for the failings during her tenure is the right course of action.
In her defense, Vennells previously stated that the approval of prosecutions rested with senior lawyers and claimed she was misled by computer experts from Fujitsu, who assured her that the IT system was secure. Despite expressing regret for the suffering caused to wrongly prosecuted sub-postmasters and their families, the discovery of the tapes adds a new layer of complexity to the ongoing inquiry.
The Post Office scandal has wider implications, highlighting systemic issues within the organization and raising questions about accountability, transparency, and the treatment of whistleblowers. As the inquiry progresses, the explosive nature of the tapes is expected to reverberate through the legal and public spheres, prompting further calls for justice and reforms within the Post Office.
