Shamed ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells 'frequently and consistently tried to steer' investigators away from uncovering potential miscarriages of justice, Horizon scandal inquiry told

Shamed erstwhile Post Office brag Paula Vennells ‘frequently and consistently attempted to steer’ investigators distant from uncovering imaginable miscarriages of justice, a machine adept hired to scrutinise its doomed Horizon IT strategy said.

Ian Henderson, from forensic accountants Second Sight, claimed Post Office bosses were ‘constantly sabotaging our efforts to question the information irrespective of the consequences’ and said helium had acrophobic implicit a ‘cover-up’, aft lifting the lid connected what was going on.

More than 700 subpostmasters were prosecuted for theft by the Post Office and handed transgression convictions betwixt 1999 and 2015 arsenic the faulty IT strategy it used, known arsenic Horizon, made it look arsenic though wealth was missing astatine their branches.

Many were sent to jailhouse and bankrupted, portion astatine slightest 4 are believed to person taken their ain lives implicit it.

Prosecutions continued to hap nether the ticker of disgraced main enforcement Ms Vennells, contempt repeatedly being told determination were concerns astir the reliability of the grounds utilized to instrumentality guiltless workers to court.

The long-running enquiry into what happened contiguous heard from Mr Henderson, who said helium recovered it ‘absurd’ that Post Office lawyers removed documents from cases which appeared to vindicate unit of theft.

In his witnesser statement, helium said: ‘Paula Vennells often and consistently attempted to steer Second Sight distant from investigating imaginable miscarriages of justice.

‘When I archetypal met Paula Vennells, she told maine that Post Office was the nation’s astir trusted marque with a past of implicit 400 years.

‘As our enactment continued, I progressively formed the presumption that due to the fact that of this history, Post Office someway felt it was supra the law.’He said determination were much radical moving successful the Post Office’s nationalist relations section than successful its ineligible department, which helium described arsenic ‘relatively tiny bearing successful caput the size and value of the organisation’.

He said 1 lawyer ‘struck maine much arsenic an administrator’ than a lawyer, and said his ‘level of cognition of prosecutions really seemed successful my caput to beryllium rather limited’.

Mr Henderson, whose parents ran a agrarian Post Office, added that by summertime 2013, helium came to the presumption that Horizon ‘was not the robust, error-free strategy claimed by Post Office’.

He added: ‘I was opening to signifier the presumption that nary prosecution relying connected Horizon grounds could beryllium safe.’He said suggestions contentious worldly was ‘airbrushed out’ by Post Office lawyers meant ‘it was opening to look much similar a cover-up than a genuine interest astir ineligible nonrecreational privilege’.

Mr Henderson said helium did not deliberation this was one-off behaviour.

He said: ‘They didn’t privation hard accusation to spot the airy of day, and we were having to combat perpetually for entree to documents that we thought were applicable to our work.’Mr Henderson opened his grounds by asking to amend his witnesser connection to adhd the honorific ‘Sir’ successful notation to Post Office leader Alan Bates, drafting cheers from those attending the enquiry successful cardinal London.

Sir Alan was awarded a knighthood successful the King’s Birthday Honours this period aft his landmark run for justness for hundreds of wrongly convicted postmasters.

Second Sight began investigating successful summertime 2012 and published its interim study a twelvemonth aboriginal uncovering large concerns with the reliability of the system, and the victimisation of sub-postmasters - casting superior uncertainty implicit the spot of prosecutions.

This was contempt being denied entree to important accusation by the Post Office specified arsenic mistake logs.

Second Sight was sacked by the Post Office successful 2015, but not earlier uncovering a slew of strategy flaws and identifying that prosecutions appeared to beryllium motivated by recovering losses. Its 2nd interim study was ne'er published.

Last month, erstwhile brag Ms Vennells conceded miscarriages of justness could person been discovered sooner if the archetypal program for forensic accountants Second Sight to decently scrutinise respective convictions had been carried out, alternatively than conscionable 2 oregon three.

The enquiry antecedently heard grounds from Lord (James) Arbuthnot, stood down arsenic an MP successful 2015 and took up a spot successful the Lords, but took up the lawsuit of his constituent Jo Hamilton, whose plight was depicted successful the ITV play Mr Bates Vs The Post Office.

Ms Hamilton was falsely accused of taking the wealth from the Post Office subdivision she ran successful South Warnborough, Hampshire.

She yet pleaded blameworthy to mendacious accounting successful fearfulness of going to jailhouse and was prosecuted successful 2006, but had her condemnation quashed successful 2021 erstwhile she was recovered to beryllium a unfortunate of the Post Office Horizon scandal.

Lord Arbuthnot said helium felt by 2015 that Post Office bosses were disquieted astir Second Sight ‘actually uncovering thing truly important astir Horizon - they were disquieted that Second Sight was getting excessively adjacent to the truth’.

He told the inquiry: ‘It posed an existential menace to the aboriginal of Horizon. And that successful crook posed an existential menace to the aboriginal of the Post Office.’ 

The enquiry continues.