Paula Vennells described potential wrongful convictions of subpostmasters as “very disturbing” more than a year before the company halted prosecutions, in an email which surfaced the day before her evidence to the Horizon IT inquiry.
ITV News reported that the October 2013 email, as well as a recording of a phone conversation involving Ms Vennells, who was chief executive of the Post Office, confirmed she was sent case files of eight subpostmasters.
In her exchange with Ron Warmington, a forensic accountant with firm Second Sight who were drafted in to review independently the Horizon system, Ms Vennells said: “I have just read through the attachments.
“Apart from finding them very disturbing (I defy anyone not to), I am now even better informed.
“The form you have devised is very helpful as it removes some of the emotion and highlights very clearly areas we need to address as well as investigate for the mediation process, which I hope will bring closure for some of these people.
“As I said… I take this very seriously…”
I hope that Ms Vennells will finally admit the truth so that the public can get to the bottom of this and those who have suffered get the justice they need
Nadhim Zahawi
Ms Vennells, who was chief executive between 2012 and 2019, told MPs in February 2015, just over a year after sending the email, that there was nothing wrong with the Horizon system and that she had seen no evidence of miscarriages of justice.
ITV News said former member of the business and trade select committee, Nadhim Zahawi, believed the email will “be seen as the smoking gun that is the cover-up that has taken place at the Post Office”.
The Conservative MP told the broadcaster: “I hope that Ms Vennells will finally admit the truth so that the public can get to the bottom of this and those who have suffered get the justice they need.”
Ms Vennells will be questioned under oath on Wednesday about her role in the Horizon scandal which unfolded under her watch.
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 spoken in detail about her role in the scandal, but previously apologised for the “devastation caused to subpostmasters and their families”.
A document submitted by her lawyers ahead of a preliminary hearing in 2021 said she was “deeply disturbed” by the judgments in the cases against lead campaigner Alan Bates and Ms Hamilton in which Horizon was found to be faulty.
She was made a CBE in the 2019 New Years Honours List “for services to the Post Office and to charity”, but voluntarily handed the honour back after a petition attracted more than 1.2 million signatures.
In a short statement previously issued by Ms Vennells, she said she would “continue to support and focus on co-operating with the inquiry”.
Ms Vennells could be quizzed on her knowledge of the ability to remotely access the Horizon system, alleged false evidence given by expert witnesses during Post Office prosecutions, and the behaviour of the company’s investigators.
She may also be questioned on whether she believed there were any miscarriages of justice during her tenure after chief financial officer Alisdair Cameron told the probe she did not and “could not have got there emotionally”.
The Post Office has come under fire following the screening of ITV drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, which put the Horizon IT scandal under the spotlight.
Hundreds of subpostmasters are still awaiting full compensation despite the Government announcing those who have had convictions quashed are eligible for £600,000 payouts.