A senior Post Office executive used two chilling words to wrongly insist some sub-postmasters prosected were guilty of stealing cash in the Horizon IT scandal, an investigation has revealed.
The Post Office executive was recorded on tape between 2020 and 2021 talking about the setup of operations within the business, TalkTV has reported.
Executive, Richard Taylor, is heard saying people “downright stole” some of the £30,000 that was stored in safes within Post Offices.
In the recorded conversations where Mr Taylor is describing his thought process behind the scandal, he said: “…the main stuff which we give you is 30,000 pounds in cash to stick in a safe.
“And the problem with 30,000 pounds in cash in a safe is if you’ve got 11 and a half thousand post officers is some of those people decide to… not necessarily with any particular intent… to borrow that money for a little while… well some of them downright stole it.”
Mr Taylor, the current Group Corporate Affairs, Communications and Brand Director for Post Office also admitted in the recordings, that some postmasters had been “hard done by” because of the scandal.
Mr Taylor even claimed some postmasters used the money to pay for stock for their shops at the local cash and carry.
He added: “There are probably some people for whom they have been hard done by. But some other people stole the money. I mean It’s never been proven that there was a link between the computer glitch and anybody actually losing money.”
He told TalkTV: “I am deeply sorry about the terrible impact of this scandal on victims and have consistently apologised for all they have suffered. I sincerely apologise for any past remarks that I may have made during personal conversations which cause hurt or offence.”
Between 1999 and 2015, the Post Office prosecuted 700 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses after the faulty Horizon IT system made it look like money was missing from their branches.
Many were jailed, some tooke their own lives, and some have since died – it’s a scandal that is back in the spotlight after ITV’s Mr Bates vs The Post Office thrust the issue to the top of the political agenda after victims struggled for years to clear their names and secure proper payouts.
Only 93 out of 700 convictions have been overturned, with more victims coming forward since the drama aired last week. The scandal is currently being investigated as part of the Government’s Horizon IT Inquiry.
Rishi Sunak this week said a new law will be introduced to make sure those wrongly convicted are “swiftly exonerated and compensated”.
He also announced an “upfront payment” of £75,000 which will be made available to hundreds of postmasters.
Ministers have now drawn up plans for new laws that will allow convictions to be overturned instead of victims having to make individual court appeals.
Meanwhile, the ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells handed back her CBE on Tuesday “with immediate effect” after more than one million people signed a petition for her to do so.
She ran the Post Office when it routinely denied there was a problem with its Horizon IT system.
