Mr Bates vs the Post Office

[The Bish]

Clearly she was worth every penny of her massive salary...

"Paul Brand@PaulBrandITV
Laughter in the room as Paula Vennells repeatedly maintains that she had no idea that the Post Office even had the power to launch prosecutions against subpostmasters."

That and the other alleged lack of knowledge of what was going on is the most shocking. Post Office Ltd isn't a huge organisation - about 7k employees when all this was going on and far smaller now, so it's astonishing that stuff like this could happen that did not make it up to the senior execs and the board.

 

[Enfield boy]

It's beyond belief that she didn't know and that this was the best defence. After 20 years of PE bashing on about it let alone C4s warning a few months ago I'd have thought she could have given a more convincing "performance".

x.com

x.com

 

[wacko]

^ of course they knew. Just took the fat salary and didn't give a sh12.

 

[ff1d1l]

Crucifixion, while appropriate punishment for a god-botherer, is too lenient.
Shame the election will - is already - compromising coverage.

 

[Sonority]

Beer is doing a decent job of cutting her (obvious) obfuscation for many replies.

 

[Ponty]

Brutal (but fair) stuff this morning.

 

[AnilS]

She's still a Wordsmith champion and slippery

 

[Ponty]

Everyone at fault but her, where ultimately the buck should stop. The lawyers are doing a great job of exposing her level of negligence and incompetence.

 

[Muttley2]

for someone so high up in an organisation it is staggering how little she claims to know. Utter tripe send her down.

 

[Jim Audiomisc]

The media has done a lot of better things than that. The Post Office scandal was brought to light in lunchtime broadcasts on Radio 4.

The BBC radio items were important. But so was the series of exposures in Computer Weekly and Private Eye. Yet for years poliicians and the newspapers kept shtum...

 

[Jim Audiomisc]

Is there a site I can download directly from that provides these videos so I can view them as and when I choose, etc? Without adverts, signing up, being tracked, etc. Just "URL is" and I can http or fttp them without providing my inside leg measurement or watch ads.

I know they get shown at times on BBC News. But then often seem unavailable for fetching afterwards.

 

[Jubal]

Is there a site I can download directly from that provides these videos so I can view them as and when I choose, etc? Without adverts, signing up, being tracked, etc. Just "URL is" and I can http or fttp them without providing my inside leg measurement or watch ads.

I know they get shown at times on BBC News. But then often seem unavailable for fetching afterwards.

Does YouTube qualify against your demands? All on there.

 

[Jubal]

for someone so high up in an organisation it is staggering how little she claims to know. Utter tripe send her down.

Incompetence is not illegal. She’s clearly gaming this.

 

[Bob McC]

Ignorance is no defence

 

[Minio]

So far -

She wasn't there

She wasn't in the conversation

She doesn't remember

Ignorance is no defence

Now-

"Oh I'm sorry I didn't know that officer!"

 

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

Ignorance is no defence

She’s got little choice. Either plead ignorance and let everybody think she was useless, or admit she knew but condoned the prosecutions, and put herself at risk of very serious criminal charges.

And ignorance of the law is no defence, but ignorance of facts or events might be.

 

[wacko]

^ Paula Vennells won't be getting another top job. In any case she is 65. I wonder if she can sleep at night though...

 

[Cav]

Not sure of what criminal charges people here think she might be at risk?

 

[kensalriser]

Shouldn't get too fixated on one individual. She is merely one cog (albeit a big one) in the machine that caused and perpetuated this scandal. Many others are also culpable.

 

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

Not sure of what criminal charges people here think she might be at risk?

I'm thinking something like Conspiracy to pervert the course of Justice, perhaps; Conspiracy to commit perjury, stuff like that. Also, not sure of my ground, but I think knowingly misleading Parliament might also carry criminal sanctions.