Post Office boss tells jailed subpostmistress 'it will be with me for the rest ... trends now
A former Post Office boss has apologised to a subpostmistress who was forced to leave her children behind after being jailed over an alleged shortfall of £59,000.
Alan Cook issued an apology to Jane Skinner, who was sentenced to nine months in prison in 2007 for false accounting. Her conviction was overturned in 2021.
Speaking at the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry, he said Ms Skinner's case 'will be with me for the rest of my life', adding: 'I should have been on top of (your case), and I wasn't.'
Ms Skinner, who ran a Post Office in Hull, said his apology was 'probably' sincere, but added: 'I think his evidence has been insincere. 'He was sat at the head of that table and he would have known what was going on.'
Mr Cook, who served as managing director between 2006 and 2010, also admitted that he 'ought to have known' the organisation had a deliberate strategy of using a charge of theft as a 'sledgehammer to crush subpostmasters into submission'.
Jane Skinner celebrating outside the Royal Courts of Justice after having her appeal overturned in 2021
Alan Cook oversaw 200 prosecutions against subpostmasters during his time as Post Office MD
It comes after Ms Skinners lawyer Edward Henry KC, said: 'An unmeritorious charge of theft was being used as a jemmy or sledgehammer to force a plea or to crush subpostmasters into submission.'
Mr Cook, who oversaw 200 prosecutions against subpostmasters, replied: 'I don't know if that was a deliberate strategy by the Post Office but that's how it manifested itself and it's unacceptable.'
Mr Henry continued: 'It was a strategy and you ought to have been aware of that strategy, do you accept that now - not with hindsight, but what you ought to have known at the time?'
Mr Cook said: 'I did not know that at the time...' Mr Henry interjected: 'Well you ought to have known at the time, Mr Cook. Do you accept that?'
The witness replied: 'Yes I do accept I ought to have known it - I didn't know it, it would be nothing I would ever willingly want to do.'
In an interview with the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire last month, Ms Skinner said she wanted 'arrests and people held accountable.'
Mr Cook also told the public inquiry that he did not realise that the Post Office had the power of prosecution as part of the Horizon IT scandal.
The former managing director said he had not heard anything 'sufficiently categoric' to suggest that the Post Office made prosecutorial decisions and said he blamed himself for 'not picking up on it'.
Mr Cook described his lack of knowledge on the subject as a 'regret', saying he had 'never come across a situation before that a trading entity could initiate criminal prosecutions themselves.'
He told the inquiry he did not ask
