The former chief executive of Britain's Post Office, Paula Vennells, has apologized for the huge scandal that led to hundreds of sub-postmasters who ran the institution's local branches wrongly prosecuted for theft.
Former Chief Executive Officer of Post Office Limited Paula Vennells arrives to give evidence to the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry, in central London, on May 22, 2024. More than 700 people running small local post offices received criminal convictions between 1999 and 2005 after faulty accounting software made it appear that money had gone missing from their branches.
As the Post Office is a state-owned company, questions have also been raised about the government's role in the scandal, which has been described as one of the most widespread miscarriages of justice in British history. "I was given much information, and, as the inquiry has heard, there was information that I wasn't given and others didn't receive as well," she replied.