Paula Vennells said she had no inkling that subpostmaster convictions were unsafe in May 2013 despite an email from lead campaigner Alan Bates which said he was “surprised” she had not offered to meet “bearing in mind what has been discovered so far”.
Referring to the work of forensic accountants Second Sight in the email from 21 May 2013, Bates said: “Bearing in mind what has been discovered so far, I for one am surprised that we haven’t yet met to discuss the implications.
“Whilst I appreciate that the majority of the issues began under previous regimes and you have expressed a genuine willingness to address the concerns that JFSA (Justice For Subpostmasters Alliance) has been raising, these issues are still continuing.
“I have little doubt that it is now feasible to show that many of the prosecutions that POL (Post Office Limited) have pressed home should never have taken place.”
Counsel to the inquiry Jason Beer KC asked former Post Office CEO Vennells: “Would you have been very concerned reading an email like this that the person representing a key stakeholder, JFSA, was saying that the prosecutions, and many of them, that the Post Office had brought, ought never to have taken place?”
She replied: “I was concerned to get the email from Alan, certainly. The point he was making about prosecutions was the point the JFSA made for a number of years – that wasn’t new news to me at this stage.”
Beer continued: “Is that how you would have thought of it, that this is just Mr Bates saying something that he’s always said?”
The former Post Office boss replied: “No, not at all.”
Beer then said: “Had you been given any inkling that anything had emerged that might undermine the safety of convictions?”
Vennells responded: “No.”
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