Paula Vennells

For those who might have missed some of her testimony:

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/may/22/paula-vennells-breaks-down-as-she-tells-post-office-inquiry-she-was-misled

I didn't know, I wasn't told , and if I was told I didn't understand it - a very slippery individual.

Various newspapers say that there have been at least four suicides and that thirty three other people have died.
This woman arrogantly feels that she bears no responsibility, despite having drawn a hefty salary and bonuses for years and despite clearly having early knowlege that the system was flawed.
I have no idea what charges could be brought against her, but can only wish that she could be charged with corporate manslaughter. I know that this could not happen, but it should.

Surely she could be charged, along with all her senior colleagues, with theft! The thousands and thousands of £££ that the post and sub post masters “paid back” was not in fact owed to the PO and was paid out of their own savings, which then must have shown up somewhere in the PO profits??

That about sums up the bits I caught Urms. Remember a few days ago I asked who here could do the job of Tesco’s CEO, and one or two said they could if they had all the right experts working for them - well this is what happens if that approach is followed by someone who isn’t sufficiently hands on/doesn’t ask questions/ doesn’t understand/can’t remember etc etc. I always wonder with things like this how many emails have conveniently disappeared - but as we know, if there are criminal charges IT equipment can be seized and interrogated.

Whatever the KC is being paid he is worth every penny. 👍

I must admit to enjoying watching a barrister take a witness apart!

NanKate

Whatever the KC is being paid he is worth every penny. 👍

He is excellent!

I was shocked learning of her qualifications and lack of leadership skills that she was appointed to a role where she was clearly not qualified for… hmm .. who/how appointed her.. more questions…

Well, that's annoying, Sky News has switched over to a load of waffle about a possible GE date.
Let us know when it's announced.

In the meantime ....

So she's going with the defence of "I was too incompetent to understand the business for which I was CEO and being paid £ millions"

Urmstongran

Horrible woman. Himself says she’s throwing others under the bus.

Himself is right.

That's exactly what she's attempting to do.

Blaming others for lack of information - so it's their fault, you see.

Odious woman.

I have watched PV hesitate and carefully phrase her answers to the questions put to her today, referring to her “personal statement”, and have wanted to squirm at how vague her recollections apparently are.
I do not think she gave more than a few thoughts in passing about the Sub Postmasters while she was living a life funded by her large salary as CEO and then MD at the Post Office.
She did not have the credentials for either job, and relied heavily on a “team” to tell her what to say. If they didn’t inform her then she didn’t know. Blame, blame …
Unfortunately it is how the Execs of too many companies operate today.

Crossed posts Urmston . I agree with Himself (and am delighted he is doing so well with his treatment). 👋

Dickens

Urmstongran

Horrible woman. Himself says she’s throwing others under the bus.

Himself is right.

That's exactly what she's attempting to do.

Blaming others for lack of information - so it's their fault, you see.

Odious woman.

Oh yes, Himself is right, she is definitely doing that.

A Christian throwing others to the lions.

Germanshepherdsmum

With what would you charge her?

Perjury would be a good start. Assuming that lying to a government select committee is perjury.

A prison sentence is a possibility but probably won’t happen.
Either incompetence, stupidity or lies.I must catch up with what I recorded.

Gross negligence manslaughter

Couldn't she be locked up without being found guilty? Which is what happened to several of her employees

A very good point, Eddiecat.

Surely given that PO senior management knew that they were pursuing the innocent, it seems to 'make an example of them' could they not be charged with perverting the course of justice? Paul Vennells is clearly one intelligent woman, listening to her testimony, and her efforts to field the most pressing and pointed questions from Jason Beer. She surely cannot claim that she didn't know so much of what was going on. She is also the second senior management figure to claim not to know that the Post Office was prosecuting individuals without referral to the CPS - this is beyond belief and must constitute lying.

eddiecat78

Couldn't she be locked up without being found guilty? Which is what happened to several of her employees

Tempting ain’t it?

Callistemon21

Well, that's annoying, Sky News has switched over to a load of waffle about a possible GE date.
Let us know when it's announced.

In the meantime ....

It was on BBC all day with no interruptions.

Clearly, her defence is the playground one of " a big boy did it and ran away"

Bet she’s relieved that Sunak’s call for a GE on 4th July will have knocked her off the top spot in the newspapers! “A good day to bury bad news”?