Disgraced ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells set for Horizon inquiry showdown

Disgraced ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells is set to be questioned under oath on Wednesday about her role in the Horizon scandal which unfolded under her watch. Ms Vennells, who was chief executive at the company from 2012 to 2019, will give evidence over the course of three days at the Horizon IT inquiry. The 65-year-old has been accused of a cover-up by subpostmasters, with campaigner and former subpostmistress Jo Hamilton calling on her to tell the truth. More than 700 subpostmasters were prosecuted by the Post Office and handed criminal convictions between 1999 and 2015 as Fujitsu’s faulty Horizon IT system made it appear as though money was missing at their branches. Prosecutions continued to happen under Ms Vennells’ watch despite retired judge Sir Anthony Hooper, the chairman of the mediation scheme for people who believed they had been wrongly prosecuted by the Post Office, repeatedly telling her they “didn’t make sense”. The former chief executive has not yet spok