Alan Bates brands shamed ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells 'Cruella de Vil ... trends now
Disgraced former Post Office boss Paula Vennells yesterday admitted she had 'no one to blame' but herself, as former sub-postmaster and campaigner Alan Bates dismissed her tears at the inquiry and likened her to 'Cruella de Vil trying to play Mary Poppins'.
Former chief executive Vennells faced a barrage of criticism from lawyers for sub-postmasters at the public inquiry.
They accused her of being 'craven and self-serving', in a 'cloud of denial', and being 'in la-la land' after she said she did not know the full extent of the scandal at the time she was in charge.
Ms Vennells – who forfeited her CBE earlier this year after public backlash over her role in the scandal – wept for the second day this week as she described having 'loved' the Post Office.
But her claims were dismissed as 'humbug' by Edward Henry KC, representing some of the victims of the false accounting scandal at the inquiry in central London.
Disgraced former Post Office boss Paula Vennells yesterday admitted she had 'no one to blame' but herself, as lawyers for sub-postmasters at the Horizon inquiry accused her of being 'craven and self-serving', in a 'cloud of denial', and being 'in la-la land'
Campaigner Alan Bates dismissed Vennells' tears and likened here to 'a Cruella de Vil trying to play Mary Poppins'
Campaigner Alan Bates, whose fight for justice inspired ITV's hit drama Alan Bates v The Post Office, was also not convinced by Vennells.
Speaking to The Telegraph he said: 'It felt like a Cruella de Vil trying to play Mary Poppins.
'She probably loved the money, loved the bonuses and loved not having to know anything.
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'It was her job to say she loved the Post Office and probably in her job description.'
At the inquiry, Vennells found herself booed by sections of the 100-strong audience after it emerged she had made disparaging remarks about Post Office victim Jo Hamilton.
It came after Tim Moloney KC, representing another section of victims, pointed to an email Ms Vennells sent to senior colleagues in 2014 about a BBC One Show documentary on the Horizon software at the heart of the affair.
In it, she wrote she was 'more bored than outraged' at the programme, and said
