to enjoy hearing Paula Vennels being taken apart?

[Sausagenbacon]

Is anyone else listening - radio 5 at the moment. Paula Vennels being slowly picked apart by an expert?

The level of hypocrisy of a minister of the church leaves me aghast!
The stocks and endless free rotting vegetables to chuck at her would be too kind.

My DH has been watching it on TV for two days. Every time she says she can't remember he gives a little jeer. She really is a despicable piece of sh*t.

murasaki

I believe it's called the Rebekah Brooks defence

And Mark Zuckerberg.

When he was being interviewed by Congress, literally every response was "I do not recall".

How these people run successful businesses and hold down highly paid jobs I'll never know!

I posted this earlier , it was meant to be directly after an explanatory comment.
Tracy was imprisoned at 19 , her life was ruined. Two suicide attempts, divorced,£1200 extorted from family r with PO saying repayment could mean avoiding a custodial sentence.
Couldn't apply to mediation scheme because she'd had a criminal conviction.
She's reconciled with husband now but it's heartbreaking to see her as she was with him in her youth and now.
It's a terrible read .
https://www.postofficetrial.com/2019/06/post-office-v-mental-health-they-didnt.html?m=1

Are there likely to be any prosecutions off the back of this?

I'm looking at the statements by Rishi, Kemi, Labour MPs and they all refer to justice as in exoneration of SPMs and compensation, but they seem to be shying away from what comes next.

It's similar to the statements made after the 2021 wins, with only Ed Miliband calling for an inquiry:

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Ed Miliband, Labour's shadow business secretary, called for 'a proper inquiry with teeth to get the bottom of how this scandal can have happened and who was responsible - to deliver the justice those impacted need and deserve'.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, also encouraged any former employees to consider challenging their convictions following the ruling.
Mr Johnson said the wrongful convictions of the 39 former Post Office staff were clear evidence of an 'appalling justice' and called for lessons to be learnt to ensure 'this never happens again'.
Speaking on a visit to a farm in Stoney Middleton, Derbyshire, the Prime Minister told reporters said: 'I know the distress many subpostmasters and their families have felt for a very long time now through the Horizon scandal and I'm pleased that we've got the right judgment.
'Our thoughts are very much with the victims and we'll have to make sure that people get properly looked after because it's clear that an appalling justice has been done. Everybody in my profession knows somebody in the Post Office world who has suffered from this and it's very sad what has happened.
'I think the Horizon thing has been really terrible for many families and I'm really glad the judgment has come, in I think, the right way.
'I hope that that will now be some relief for those families and for those people who, I think, have been unfairly penalised and suffered in an appalling miscarriage and we've got to make sure we look after them.'
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said the Post Office 'must continue to reform' after the Court of Appeal's ruling.
He tweeted: 'The court's decision to overturn 39 postmasters' convictions is welcome and marks another milestone for those affected by the Horizon IT scandal.
'The tragic impact this has had on postmasters and their families cannot be overstated. The Post Office must continue to reform.'

Are there likely to be any prosecutions off the back of this?

My wild guess is they'll do Gareth Jenkins of Fujitsu, maybe one or two of the Post Office investigators, and then an attempt to do someone senior at the Post Office, perhaps Jarnail Singh, just to show that they're not just going after footsoldiers.

“In a statement realeased on Friday evening, a spokesperson for the inquiry said: 'A fulsome update regarding Ms McLeod’s evidence and efforts that have been made to get her to the witness stand will be provided next week.'’

Something to look forward to tomorrow.

I've been following here and on Twitter all day but finally sitting down to watch the broadcast on YouTube and nothing compares to the slow filleting by JB. It's like watching someone slice up an eel. Where even to begin with the nightmare that is Paula Vennells today!

I just cannot believe the complacency of the way they addressed this! I have to think that, as a PP said, they ultimately just believed that postmasters were a criminal class with criminal tendencies.

Pull the other one.

I really don't think Paula Vennells prefacing her emails with cursory questions on the families means much. It's just good optics as a CEO.

She asked after Martin Griffiths family (who took his own life) and then followed it up asking for his background and what mental health issues he has.

Do you think that's compassion?

Regardless of whether she is criminally liable, which the CPS can judge (or maybe the PO, before they lose their prosecution power!), how can she hold on to the £4.5 mio she was paid?!

Surely, if she has any ethics, she should voluntarily donate the vast majority to the compensation fund.

No, you are NOT being unreasonable.

The amount of lives her and her fellow cronies quite literally destroyed with their blatant lies is beyond disgusting and they should be receiving some serious jail time for what they did to innocent, hardworking people!!!

If I think of someone who might serve as a precedent for Vennells, Fred Goodwin of Royal Bank of Scotland comes to mind. He got away with it and kept his pension, and the punishment was that his name is mud and if anyone wants to associate with him they have to sneak about to avoid being seen in his company.

@Newbutoldfather Ha!! Fat chance.

More chance of Smaug giving his gold away to passing hobbits.

After all, she'll need a nice long holiday somewhere sunny to get over this traumatic inquiry.

I would reccomend HMP Styal.

There were probably a lot more detailed conversations being had behind the scenes...imagine she wanted to put the story out there that Martin Griffiths (RIP) had existing issues and being falsely accused was nothing to do with it. All about controlling the narrative.

Nope. YANBU.

I know one. He is basically chewing on bricks in readiness.

You do wonder how these people get the senior level jobs but seemingly don't have a clue about what is happening in the companies they run. The years are for her incompetence not for the people who were prosecuted. She apparently was going to run for Bishop of London, but it was pulled away from her, not surprised. How could you have any belief in her after this.

I've worked in many large organisations and all the seniors were incompetents who were managed out upwards. In one institution, the trade union influence was very strong so it was difficult to sack people. Incompetents (who were also sociopaths in some ways) were promoted. That's how you can easily get a board full of people like PV in top positions.

Also a lot of these corrupt individuals, tend to have a need to progress due to a need for "power". And let whatever little or huge power get to their heads.

Recipe for disaster. This combination never ends well.

There was a highly informative insight into how the culture looked to an outsider, Alisdair Cameron, Chief Financial Officer and former Interim Chief Executive of Post Office, who joined the Post Office as a grown up (given as evidence given the other day):

They'll never get that time back, they had much more stolen from them than they were ever accused and wrongly imprisoned for.

As others have said I've met people similar to this in public authorities, cold and self serving, who don't want to listen when you speak up and speak out against the establishment.

i’m a little in love with Jason Beer - so calm but so deadly

Softly spoken and has a gentle manner - but he is so fucking deadly and quick.

Hate to repeat myself

but how the fuck do I get one of these jobs??! I’m as qualified as she was and I’m sure I could do a better job