A former sub postmistress has demanded a “serious” public apology amid the ongoing Post Office Horizon IT inquiry.
Teju Adedayo ran the Gillingham branch of the postal company for six years before being accused of stealing £50,000 in 2006.
Ms Adedayo was among those prosecuted because of incorrect information provided by a computer system called Horizon, developed by Fujitsu.
As weekly accounts at her Rainham Road post office showed an unexplained and increasing shortfall, she says she repeatedly asked for help and investigation from Post Office officials, only to be told to “rollover” the shortfall and that the accounting system would “resolve itself” in time.
She was given a 50-week sentence at Maidstone Crown Court, suspended for two years and ordered to complete 200 hours under a community punishment order.
Ms Adedayo and her husband had to remortgage their family home and she was left unable to find work due to her criminal record.
But on May 14, 2021, she had her criminal conviction overturned at Southwark Crown Court.
The BBC reported the Post Office did not oppose her appeal on the grounds that it wasn't in the public interest to pursue a retrial.
And although Adedayo’s conviction was quashed, the confession she says she was coerced into making means she was denied the compensation awarded to others whose lives have been upended by the scandal.
Ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells began her evidence at the Horizon IT inquiry yesterday and apologised for “all that subpostmasters and families have suffered”.
She admitted she “made mistakes” but denied there was a conspiracy to cover up the Horizon scandal.
“I demand a public apology on behalf of everyone at fault...”
At the inquiry, Ms Adedayo expressed her anger at the situation.
Speaking to Sky News yesterday, she said: “So far, I’m actually very angry with the whole lot of them.
“I am actually sitting here fuming. I demand a public apology on behalf of everyone at fault.
“A serious one. We want them to stand up and say ‘we are truly sorry for what we have done to you and your family’”.
Former Post Office boss Ms Vennell claimed she had no inkling subpostmaster convictions were unsafe in 2013 despite a “concerning” email from lead campaigner Alan Bates.
When Ms Vennells was asked at the inquiry if she was the “unluckiest CEO in the United Kingdom”, she said she had been “too trusting”.
The inquiry continues.
