Disgraced ex-Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells has apologised for “all that subpostmasters and families… have suffered” as her evidence to the Horizon IT inquiry got under way.
The 65-year-old ordained priest told the inquiry she was “too trusting” at the beginning of her evidence on Wednesday.
She was given a self-incrimination warning by chairman Sir Wyn Williams, but told him: “Thank you Sir Wyn… I plan to answer all questions.”
Issuing a short statement at the beginning of the hearing, Ms Vennells said: “I would just like to say, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to do this, how sorry I am for all that subpostmasters and their families and others have suffered as a result of all of the matters that the inquiry is looking into.
“I followed and listened to all of the human impact statements and I was very affected by them.”
As his first major question to Ms Vennells, counsel to the inquiry Jason Beer KC said: “Do you think you are the unluckiest CEO in the United Kingdom?”
Ms Vennells replied: “As the inquiry has heard, there was information I wasn’t given and others didn’t receive as well.
“One of my reflections of all of this – I was too trusting.
“I did probe and I did ask questions and I’m disappointed where information wasn’t shared and it has been a very important time for me… to plug some of those gaps.”
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