My husband was the Postmaster at the Aldershot Road Post Office at Guildford from 1987 to 2005, We had a thriving business till Horizon was installed in 1999, after that it was loss after loss. Like all the Postmasters he was gaslighted by the suits at Guildford, and was told its not the Horizon system its either you taking the money or your wife and your the only one this is happening too.. Its a mantra they all decided to tell to make you feel inadequate. We payed our losses selling family property,, we left the UK and now live in Sri Lanka. We have lost our grandchildren growing up and making memories with our children. All Postmasters who where the pillars of the community need recompense for this terrible injustice.

She should be in jail, an inquiry isn't good enough.

Utterly deplorable and those at the top MUST be prosecuted!

She knew in 2013 because the forensic auditors told her the software was faulty...before she fired them.

The terrible things suffered by these poor SPM's _ ALL of the top team - and below - should have ALL their money taken from them, and be sent to prison, for a good long time. They are ALL despicable. No sympathy whatsoever - and certainly not for the crocodile tears. Are we supposed to feel sorry for her, after the dreadful things these poor people have suffered over nearly 25 years? I think not.

God bless you Jo Hamilton and all the others like you that have suffered in this way. It's a crime you didn't have access to the Lawyers most of these that have given "evidence" at the inquiry have. Tell them "you can't remember"!!!!

Miss "I CAN'T REMEMBER" When ever questioned & takes no responsibility for her position in the post office She should go to prison

Really admire Jo Hamilton.

Jo Hamilton is a dignified lady - the exact opposite of all the Post Office people who have lied their way through this Inquiry. The met police need to get off their backsides and start proceedings - they don’t need the final Inquiry report to get the ball rolling on this.

Incredibly moving. The fact that 74 villagers turned up to support Jo Hamilton at her trial.

She was so sorry that when she found out they were at fault she decided to double down,spend a million pound to cover it up and share the money they stole from postmasters to pay herself and shareholders in dividends.The audacity of her crocodile tears.

a millionaire crying... that she's been caught and only showing tears on camera. means absolutely nothing

The pictures where the smile has been wiped off of Paula's face are priceless ! Why isn't she in prison ?

Tell me how can forensic accountants be wrong even they have said she is lying

From the segments i've seen today she's still trying to cover everything up and not accepting anything, the usual I don't recall, I didn't know, I wasn't aware etc etc. More pathological lying it appears.

They need to receive millions in compensation and a pardon from the King

Crocodile tears , a shameless display , or was she crying for being found out. She is another one from the bottom up saying she was not aware WELL SOMEONE WAS !! or was ALL of them

No one will be held to account yet again , just one big cover up !!!

Paula Vennals should be arrested and sent to jail .

Jo Hamilton seems such a nice person. More power to her and the rest of the persecuted.

The TRUTH?....... NO CHANCE!!!!!

I will say it, this Vennells thing is a psychopath, playing victim, unaccountable, evading questions, and the crocodile tears would be a disgrace for normal people, but administrators look after each other at all times, unfortunately

Thank God they made this tv series. Now the world is finally stepping up to this persecution. Sad it has happened so late. Vennells is NOT a devout religious person. She uses systems for her own ego and power. She thrives on controlling and affecting other vulnerable people's lives. Jo is a hero as are all the people who were destroyed by this cover up.

Paula Vennells hasn't a clue what the truth actually is.

Lock her up!

Disgusting what Jo Hamilton had to go through. Vennells should go to jail

She should be made an example of to prevent further corruption. Prison is appropriate. She cried because she was caught out lived her best life whilst people went to prison died and lost jobs, homes. Not on and it stinks a crime has obviously been committed by post office , now the outcome should be prison

Great Interview Suzanna and Martin showing much compassion towards Jo Hamilton.

I can just hear her evidence now…’I don’t recall that…’

It’s time these people were charged for perjury

Venelles needs to pay back that massive pay off she received.

Vennels, the priest, swore on the bible to tell the truth - then lied to the inquiry today. Clearly she doesnt really believe.

Yes good to see you Jo, keep at it!😀😀

The dead one’s can’t speak. Jail.

If you are the CEO you have to know what is going on, she has said time and again the she had to protect the post office

They mention Noel Thomas, who always tugs at my heart strings, the Welshist boy in the village. That scene where they find each other, know they are not alone, always makes me break down.

The Sub-Postmasters should receive repayment of everything they lost plus compensation. However, the Post Office have the audacity to offer amounts substantially lower than the submitted claims which I think is disgusting. Moreover, where are Fujitsu? Fujitsu should be responsible for a large part of the compensation.

This is reminding me of the Nuremberg trials where apparently none of the defendants were to blame.

Where did all the 'missing 'money go?

Essentially, Paula Vennells argument hinges on the claim that she was unknowingly misled by what she portrays as an overwhelming volume of "good corporate memory," causing her and the entire department to overlook incompetence and misconduct. Consequently, because these transgressions were disregarded, she deems them non-existent in her awareness. Thus, she absolves herself of responsibility or liability for actions of which she claims ignorance, despite occupying the highest position of responsibility at the post office, with a legal obligation to be informed of such matters. She refers to this as "bad corporate memory." In summary, through this disingenuous and facetious argument, she diminishes the seriousness of events and distances herself from involvement. Simultaneously, she lauds her own conduct throughout the period when, under her direction, individuals were wrongfully prosecuted and incarcerated for crimes that never occurred, and for which no evidence existed. Not only was she aware of these miscarriages of justice, but she also expedited all legal proceedings during that time and halted the initiation of new cases. This was a deliberate attempt to conceal wrongdoing. Her objective was to swiftly resolve all matters, regardless of the cost, in order to sweep them under the rug and move on. This allowed her to claim that administratively, the post office was functioning exceptionally well, with no service issues, despite the introduction of a flawed digital system for post office financial transactions, which she endorsed. This flawed system necessitated Fujitsu, the program's creator, to have direct access to a hidden backdoor that could manipulate postmasters' accounts without their knowledge. Fujitsu evidently exaggerated the capabilities of the accounting program in its initial proposal, aiming to address any flaws after securing the contract with the post office. It's evident that Fujitsu lobbied for the deal, explaining why Post Office CEO Paula Vennells, in her position of power, took the actions she did. She was not compelled to do so and could have resigned the moment she became aware, or claimed ignorance of, any criminal activity. The Post Office CEO, Paula Vennells, sought to obtain one or more results for herself directly and indirectly, explicitly through one or more means which are not legal nor foreseen in UK law. This constitutes corruption, as the maintenance of one job role, either private or institutional, through the same means as described in the paragraph above constitutes corruption and does not require a corrupt and corrupted, and even less an exact exchange of legal tender, goods, or services. The Post Office CEO, Paula Vennells, knowingly violated the law.

She won’t tell the truth ,..because she can’t without implicating herself, she will carry on pretending to forget relevant information

Perjury , jail , she will get off scot free

This poor lady my heart goes out to you I hope you and all your colleagues get Justice I want to see the CEO of the Post Office doing a very long prison term and everything she owns she loses after all this is criminal yes I saw her getting upset crocodile tears not answering questions directly and keeps looking at the sealing and a female colleague Ava's of ASDA certain questions uneven that person doesn't believe she didn't know

Follow the course of events. If Royal Mail group was earmarked for privatisation, revelation of a faulty horizon program would of blemished the brand and reduced the share price. That would mean ministers had to of known, have the power to sway judges into not asking where the money went, as in all cases there was no evidence of flash cars, expensive holidays or bloated bank accounts. Ministers could also hand out peerages for keeping silent and they even had to split Royal Mail group up so they could sell the Royal Mail, the only good bit. Was that to stop private investors finding out about the horizon program? Horizon program in use 1999 Post master convictions 1999-2015 Postal services act 2011 Royal Mail group split in 2012 Royal Mail privatised 2013-2015 Vincent Cable knighted 2015 Alwen Lyon’s PO secretary OBE 2018 Paula Vennels CEO CBE 2019

"I dont know" and "I cant remember" will be called " the Post office defence" from now on

Paula Vennells is now the face of the Post Office! FFS what a to- do.

Hi Jo, I don't know that much of this investigation other than what I see on the TV but hearing from you I am crying for what the POL did to you. Please all the best for you going ahead, and i hope this enquiry will give you some peace of mind.

Interesting the religious connection is mentioned. A dangerous quality in religious people is ‘faith’ - that is to say They demonstrate they are capable of believing something without evidence. Perhaps that is materially relevant - if she had the same kind of ‘faith’ in the Horizon system, that belief system could have led her down this road. She said herself she was too trusting - her predisposition to ’faith’ is a plausible explanation for that. Religious ’faith’ is fine in church or in private, but you have to leave it behind when you go to work, otherwise this sort of thing can happen.

Jo Hamilton is a lovely lady, a credit to herself, her family and her community.

... and where were all the Labour MP's representing their constituents during this time? You know the self proclaimed "party of the people" the ones that stand up for working people.

These poor people have been Crucified for years keep fighting Jo and Co

I can't believe that this excuse for a human being is already in another high profile position.they say crime doesn't pay.i beg to differ.

Excellent by Susanna

Imagine, at your place of work, some money goes missing. You get blamed. If you deny it you are threatened with court resulting in prison. Or if you admit it you just get a suspended sentence or community punishment. So to avoid prison you admit guilt. Over and done with you think. Then your company sues you for court costs because you were found guilty, you owe £350,000 in court costs. Your life ruined. This company is called the Post Office. Their logo is " whatever you need us for, we're here for you". They spent £100 million in expensive lawers to try to avoid paying £58 million in compensation. The class action saw the incorrectly convicted see £20,000 in compensation after court costs. The executive salaries were between £250,000 and £500,000

Why on earth have none of the helpline staff offered the sub postmasters the inside story? What were they being told?

Where are the people who bought the four part story to the TV ,to see the Great job for high lighting the plight of the Postmasters . They need our Thanks too

The Establishment will merely close ranks after this enquiry

everyone look up Satwinder Bains of Duncan Lewis, a cousin of Jasbir Singh from Post Office. she routinely pleads her clients guilty too just like her PO family. it is not far from the tree of rotten apples unfort

" I am very sorry.......I got found out...."

I would *love* the inquiry to find one those Horizon help desk staff and find out from them who told them to say “You’re the only one experiencing those problems .

Jo Hamilton is wonderful. Cool, calm, collected and very dignified in the face of corrupt and immoral executives. Her poised and restrained behaviour in the courts is admirable. I'd love to see a world where the Van Den Bogerds and Vennells and Davies and all the other charlatans are replaced by people like Jo.

Jo is such a wonderful woman. An example to everyone!

Any senior company executive that does not know what is happening or can't remember events should never have been given their high-paying position. This is a farce. All those who suffered need to be compensated now. Immediately. And all those responsible need to pay. Financially and with jail time for their malevolent action (or deliberate inaction).

It seems everyone is missing the giant elephant sat in the kitchen. The problem I see is the lack of accurate bookkeeping at an organisational level. How did " the books balance." An organisation should know the value of its stock and the revenue it expects if it sells those stocks THE STOCK WASN'T STOLEN, MONEY WASN'T STOLEN BUT POST MASTERS PAID IN HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS IN RANSOM DEMANDS . SO WHERE DID THE MONEY GO? AND HOW DID THE ORGANISATIONS BOOKS BALANCE?

This woman is lovely .. I’m so sorry this happened to her ..Paula was making lots of money off of people like Jo.. it is a outrage💔👿🤬

I'll believe she believes in a god when she kneels before the SPM and begs them for forgiveness.

Keep asking who told hundreds of people it was only them a deliberate lie and those people should be prosecuted. Also where did all the money go that folk had to pay into the system that obviously was crooked.

For a CEO in charge of such a gigantic issue she can’t recall much nor even knew the structure of the business she was running. She suddenly remembers things that put her in a good light ! 700k a year that’s cost the tax payer plus her bonus plus her pension. It’s a disgrace. Hope the post masters are getting good legal advice in terms of criminal charges and that happens. Abuse of position, preventing the course of justice maybe. 😅

Just doing a,rewatch of mr bates and the post office and its again made me shiver with how POL operated......

Never trust the godsquad

Great comments by the host.

Telling lies is not for the ordinary guys, but to the tories and their cronies it their first language.

No amount of money is going to help anybody. These people want to know the truth and want to see those responsible punished for what they've. Throwing money at problems as compensation never works when souls are injured.

Not much good news on the "horizon" for Paulla Vennells is there!. 🤔😒🤐.....

Has she been taking interview lessons from Nicola Sturgeon?

the PO was still charging people during the itv programe.

This woman would be 'digging her own grave' if she told the "truth"! So clearly she will go kicking and screaming to the end! In my opinion it is quite despicable what she did and no doubt that will be the conclusion of the courts!

Truth they wouldn’t know what truth looks like if it poked them in the eye.

Stop giving excuses Martin!

"We know they are lying. They know they are lying. They know that we know they are lying. We know that they know that we know they are lying. And still they continue to lie." -Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Where did the money go and was anyone in the Post Office deliberately complicit?

When Horizon was installed and the errors started showing up - did anyone at Post Office ever comment (or something ?) about the increase in money going missing? Did they think the post masters had just been able to get away with theft in the past but now they're being caught? Surely Post Office was able to know that $48,000 (example only) was never in play to begin with. Post Office had to know how much money any branch had access to!

tq

Computer says no, where is all the cash that the postmasters paid out that was not owing. where did this cash go, who has it. Jail is too good for these civil servants they should lose everything.

watching from Australia deja vu on " cannot recollect": cannot remember, our former Victorian Premier and his support personnel/ politicians developed these words and delivered with dead pan expression- yes we too were fools

But ... but ... but I had to stop the truth from getting out as it would have damaged my performance related bonuses and my gold plated pension contributions ... just lock the v i l e so called woman up

I think that often people are placed in such positions due to their 'pliability' in some form, which results in failings of either their integrity or strength to deal with the parasitic slime sliding around organisations in senior roles, who seek to benefit from all and anyone, whatever the cost. This senior slime dont care of the cost, loss and harm to others, but place someone else at the head to avoid taking the flack for their trespasses and criminality. I am not excusing Paula, but we have to be aware that this happens; that those 'at the top' can often be placed fall guys for what goes on underneath or behind (the scenes).

poor woman

She let them down? Lives were utterly destroyed - and taken. Despicable human being.

Vennels and all those under her have to face a judge and jury... And she should go to prison if found guilty

All the people who told them they were the only ones are also criminal .

What a society we are living in, when decent honest people are being hounded by complicit management, who knew that there were issues wrong with their system and yet continued to persecute the dedicated post office staff, some who died and many others lost their businesses and families, only for the hierarchy to hardly be able to string any coherent recollection of why things were ignored and their continuance of “I don’t recall” or “I can’t remember” is a bit rich isn’t it? They continue to try and bluster through their questioning like incompetent rats in a barrel and should be held to account for their complicit and utter contempt in the dereliction of their duty. They have no shame and should be put into prison where they can reflect on their gross misdeeds.

No accountability, like all those inquiries ( whitewashings )

Jo is a lovely person.

a few people should be going to prison and Fujitsu should be sanctioned for this

*Weaponized incompetence* is a form of passive-aggressive behavior where an individual deliberately performs tasks poorly or pretends to be incapable of completing certain tasks. This manipulation tactic is often used to avoid responsibility, forcing others to take over and perform the task instead.

I'd like to see a psychiatric assessment.

Is horizon getting sued as well? It was their interference that made the money seemed stolen. Where did the moneys go? The subpostmasters should all have their money back and also all should have restitution for job and financial losses plus damaged reputations.

She nearly got given third banana in The CofE, as Bishop of London!

Honourable people took their lives over this piece of work, if she had any remorse she should follow suit!