Post Office boss tells jailed subpostmistress 'it will be with me for the rest of my life' as he apologises in front of Horizon scandal inquiry - and says he didn't realise PO could decide for itself who to prosecute

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'. 

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 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 earlier this year, 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 questions on the matter until he saw an article in Computer Weekly in May 2009.

Mr Cook also denied asking for a 'more robust defence of Horizon' despite an email from a Post Office investigator saying that is what he had asked for.

Quetsioned on the email, from Dave Posnett to head of information security Sue Lowther and security architect Dave King from October 2009, Mr Cook said: 'Definitely not looking for a robust defence, just looking for answers.

'One of the perils of being the boss is people use your name to get things done and I would have responded to that if I'd been copied to say that is not what we're after.'

Meanwhile, former chief executive of the Royal Mail Group Adam Crozier expressed 'huge regret' over the 'tragic situation' for Post Office subpostmasters and their families during his time at Royal Mail.

His witness statement shown during the Horizon IT inquiry read: 'I would like to express my heartfelt sympathies to the individuals and families of the individuals who were so wronged and for whom justice has been denied for so long.

'I can only imagine the immense and continued suffering they must have faced over many years.

'I feel deeply sorry for those whose lives were ruined and I am grateful for the opportunity to assist in any way I can to help ensure that vital lessons are learnt.

'It is a matter of huge regret for me that I was not aware of the tragic situation for Post Office subpostmasters and their families during my time at Royal Mail.'

Mr Crozier, who served between 2003 and 2010, also said he was not aware that lawyers within the group conducted prosecutions.

In his witness statement, Mr Crozier added: 'I do not recall any involvement in or knowledge of the oversight of the investigations and prosecutions brought by Post Office Ltd against subpostmasters, either for theft, fraud and false accounting for alleged shortfalls in branch accounts for the recovery of such alleged shortfalls through the use of civil proceedings.'

Counsel to the inquiry Jason Beer KC asked: 'Were you not aware that in fact there was no Post Office legal team - it had no separate legal in-house function and that civil and criminal proceedings were brought by lawyers within the Royal Mail Group legal team? Mr Crozier said: 'I was not, no.' 

Mr Beer continued: 'So lawyers from within the group gave advice on prosecutions, they made decisions about prosecutions and within prosecutions, and they conducted the proceedings, not any Post Office lawyers, you didn't know that?'

Mr Crozier replied: 'I was not aware of that, no.'

The Post Office has come under fire since the broadcast of ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which put the Horizon scandal under the spotlight.

More than 700 subpostmasters were prosecuted by the Government-owned organisation and handed criminal convictions between 1999 and 2015 as Fujitsu's faulty Horizon system made it appear as though money was missing at their branches.

Hundreds of subpostmasters are awaiting compensation despite the Government announcing that those who have had convictions quashed are eligible for £600,000 payouts.