An ex-Post Office official at the centre of an ITV drama has apologised for the "devastation" caused by the Horizon scandal - but claimed she never "knowingly did anything wrong".
Angela van den Bogerd also repeatedly told the Inquiry she did not remember a key email about the faulty IT system that wrecked postmasters' lives. The former executive who worked alongside ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells was portrayed by Coronation Street actress Katherine Kelly in the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office which reignited public outcry over the scandal earlier this year.
She held various roles at the Post Office in a career that spanned 35 years and was heavily criticised in the 2019 High Court action launched by campaigning hero Alan Bates where the judge accused her of misleading the court. Grilled at the Inquiry she claimed not to remember being sent an email in December 2010 that said Fujitsu - the company behind the Horizon IT system - could remotely amend cash balances in branch accounts.
Lynn Hobbs - the General Manager of the Network Support - said in the email she had "found out that Fujitsu could put an entry into a branch account remotely". Errors in the system meant money wrongly appeared to be missing from branch accounts leading to the wrongful prosecutions of hundreds of subpostmasters between 1999 and 2015.
But on multiple occasions Ms Van den Bogerd told the Inquiry she did not remember the email. Lead counsel to the Inquiry Jason Beer later asked her: "Is what truly happening here is that you're telling us that you don't recall it because you know the email of December 5 2010 presents you with a problem?"
She replied: "No not all - I wish I had remembered that information." Mr Beer said there were also emails in January 2011 and April 2014 telling her about remote access. Ms Van den Bogerd admitted to the inquiry there were "rumblings" of issues with the Horizon system as far back as 2004.
She was asked about a meeting with MPs in 2012 where notes showed Post Office chiefs made out subpostmasters were tempted to steal from tills. She denied bosses tried to "drip a little poison" into MPs' ears as part of "a deliberate strategy", adding: “I don’t think there was [a strategy] but I can’t comment. If I go back to the main meeting, I wasn’t in all of the meeting with the MPs.”
At one stage, Mr Beer asked Ms Van den Bogerd what her actual job was after she repeatedly said she couldn’t “recall” information, wasn’t “party” to conversations, or wasn’t involved in briefings or prosecutions. He said: “Not involved in briefing, not involved in IT, not involved in the provision of information concerning Horizon to Second Sight, not involved in investigating those early complaints about Horizon, not involved in considering the impact of the Second Sight report on convictions. What were you doing at this time?” She said: “I was doing whatever my business-as-usual role was."
As she was sworn in at the Inquiry on Thursday morning Ms Van den Bogerd said: "Saying sorry I know doesn't change what's happened. But I do want to say to everyone impacted by wrongful convictions and wrongful contract terminations that I am truly, truly sorry for the devastation caused to you, your family and friends. I hope my evidence will assist this inquiry with getting to the answers you and so many others deserve."
Later the ex-Post Office executive insisted she never "knowingly" did anything wrong in the scandal. She said: "I didn't knowingly do anything wrong, and I would never knowingly do anything wrong." Pressed on not apologising for her own role in the scandal in her witness statement, she added: "I apologise for not getting to the answer more quickly. But with the evidence I had and the parameters of my role at the time, I did the best I could to the best of my ability."
Ms Van den Bogerd will continue giving evidence to the Inquiry on Friday.