Paula Vennells is history but now at the Post Office Inquiry is Fujitsu distinguished engineer Gareth Jenkins - thread 4

[nauticant]

A continuation of this thread:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5094266-paula-vennells-was-done-the-other-week-the-post-office-inquiry-is-now-questioning-associates-and-others-thread-3

When the hearings are going on, live-streaming can be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/@postofficehorizonitinquiry947/featured

All of the previous hearings can be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/@postofficehorizonitinquiry947/videos

Overall, while I find the evidence of those on the Board convincing, that they were kept in the dark or even actively misled by the executive, it doesn't answer the question about why, if that's the case, they didn't become suspicious, and then active, with all of the red flags fluttering in the breeze?

Case in point is Storey. By her own account she ended up becoming distanced from her ultimate boss, ShEx, she probably wasn't getting fully open information from her fellow Board members, and was being misled by the executive. What was she doing beyond being sat in a vital role, being clever and capable, but ultimately not doing anything in the critical areas of interest to the Inquiry?

For anyone tempted to have a look at today's evidence, about 15 minutes from the end there's a guest appearance by Mr Beer, doing a brief summing up and giving a status report.

At the time I jotted down what he was saying but can't guarantee the accuracy: Provisionally, phase 7 begins on 23 September, and will probably continue into November, with no sittings in the last week of October and the first week of November.

I’m sure everyone has seen this, but on Nick Wallis's blog there's a knitted and crocheted postbox topper with a knitted Mr Beer!

Oh my god that's Paula Vennells with him! I recognised her straightaway!

That is just awesome!

I watched Helen Rose yesterday. Another one who couldn’t recall anything and looked totally gormless (old fashioned word that my late mum would have used). How JB keeps his patience and doesn’t end up screaming with rage I’ll never know.

That's marvellous Quebeccles. There are some lovely photos on Nick Wallis' blog showing it in situ:

https://www.postofficescandal.uk/post/post-office-paula-in-pant-topper-showstopper/

Two bits of news:

The shortlist for the National Television Awards has been revealed, with Baby Reindeer and Mr Bates vs the Post Office up for best new drama.

The timetable for Phase 7 has been published, https://www.postofficehorizoninquiry.org.uk/phase-7-timetable

Note that Phase 7 is about "Current practice and procedure and recommendations for the future" and won't have the compelling testimony of the earlier phases.

Glad it's being highlighted by Bates being in best drama section.

for all your hard work keeping this thread up-to-date, nauticant. I'm not posting much, but I'm still following.

The question for me is, after all this effort by the Enquiry, will any of those involved serve prison sentences, or at the very very least pay hefty fines? Or is it all going to be brushed under the carpet.

The worst that has happened to Paula Vennells is that she no longer has a CBE and gave up some Directorships. That hardly compares to what the poor SPMs suffered.

There's a follow-up programme on ITV at 9pm tonight
Mr Bates v the Post Office: The Impact
In January 2024, the drama series Mr Bates vs The Post Office brought the story of the faulty Horizon computer and the subpostmasters wrongfully accused of theft to a national audience. In this follow-up documentary, the former subpostmasters and subpostmistresses involved talk about the impact of the drama, while more come forward to tell their heart-breaking stories for the first time. Narrated by Toby Jones

Enjoyed the programme.

Interesting the thing about capture, the system prior to horizon, and the damage to those people too.

NI chap, 24th May 2012 to 24. 12 years.

20 years of disgrace.

Post Office campaigner Sir Alan Bates has married his long-term partner on Sir Richard Branson's private island in the Caribbean.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gqd7zrxqno

National Television Awards 2024 winners

New Drama
Mr Bates vs The Post Office

Drama Performance
Toby Jones (Mr Bates vs The Post Office)

Impact
Mr Bates vs The Post Office

Hello all, @nauticant @Oblomov24 @BoreOfWhabylon and everybody.

I'm.sure you've all seen it but here is the time table for Phase 7
https://www.postofficehorizoninquiry.org.uk/phase-7-timetable

Some interesting names coming up, the week after next.
I'm.really interested in this Phase, in particular the Comprnsation Schemes.
The SPMRs have been telling us what really has been happening.
But the Post Office and Government have been spinning stupid PR lines. So, I'll be waiting ti hear the truth from them.

Don't know if this is useful to anyone, but I have gone back and watched Phase 1 Hunan Impact hearings from the SPMRS.

The SPMR witness statements were hard and devastating to hear the first time.
But now we have heard and read what was going on at POL - from the investigators, lawyers, senior managers, PV and the Board, rewatching the SPMR evidence is even more devastating.

With today's news it looks like 9-11 October is going to be particularly interesting:

https://www.postofficescandal.uk/post/post-office-ceo-nick-read-announces-his-departure/

A long feature piece in The Sunday Times today about Paula Vennells:

https: //web.archive.org/web/20240922021155/https: //www. thetimes.com/uk/society/article/paula-vennells-career-post-office-inquiry-horizon-it-w62qsq8kr

Unfortunately I've had to include 3 spaces in the link (so you'll need to copy it and edit out the spaces to make it work) because without them the auto-formatting on here messes up the link horribly.

Proceeding resume tomorrow:

Evidence Week 1

Monday 23 September
Gavin Ellison - YouGov
Saf Ismail – Sub-postmaster (SPM) Non-Executive Director at Post Office Ltd

Tuesday 24 September
Saf Ismail – SPM Non-Executive Director at Post Office Ltd (continued)
Elliot Jacobs – SPM Non-Executive Director at Post Office Ltd

Wednesday 25 September
Non-sitting day

Thursday 26 September
Calum Greenhow - Chief Executive of the National Federation of Sub postmasters (NFSP)

Friday 27 September
Amanda Burton – Non-Executive Director at Post Office Ltd
Sir Martin Donnelly – former Permanent Secretary and Principal Accounting Officer at the Department of Business and Trade (Phase 5/6 evidence)

A very absorbing and thought-provoking article - thank you, @nauticant. Hope to watch at least some of tomorrow.

I had read the article on PV. I thought it was so weak, it's not meaty enough, she's not really being blamed for anything specifically. They can't 'charge' her with any crime as such, can they? They keep saying she's a bit .... this and that, but nothing of real substance. I was cross that Mr Beer was so gentle with her. What are we actually hoping this whole enquiry is going to prove?

The article is behind a payroll for me, so I can't read it.

But just from this thread, I think there is a chance she may be up for trouble for changing/falsifying the Royal Mail prospectus when it went public.

It's interesting, that historically, CEOs, business men/wonen can get away with some appalling crimes, but the minute they lie to Shareholders and investors, that's the crime they go to prison for.
I'm thinking of people like Bernie Madoff and Bernard Ebbers.

Even to an extreme, Al Capone, is another example. He went to prison for Tax Evasion.
They all did some horrible stuff, but what they went to prison for, was financial crimes.

I think Sir Alan Bates and the JFSA are planning on pursuing prvsite criminal prosecutions aswell.

minou123 · Today 07:32

The article is behind a payroll for me, so I can't read it.

Here you go, an archived version:

https://archive.is/3TliB

Thank you @sinnerboy

But just from this thread, I think there is a chance she may be up for trouble for changing/falsifying the Royal Mail prospectus when it went public.

At least she can't deny that or pretend that she doesn't remember because she boasted about it being one of her achievements in her annual appraisal.

I do think she's been made something of a scapegoat. Few of the people interviewed came out well.