TEARFUL Paula Vennells denied that there had been any Post Office conspiracy to persecute subpostmasters as she gave long-awaited evidence to the inquiry into the scandal.

The disgraced Post Office boss appeared to choke up after apologising for her role in the prosecution of hundreds of subpostmasters on the basis of evidence from the dodgy Horizon IT system.

However, she spent much of the first of the three days she will appear before the inquiry passing the buck, claiming that other executives had not told her things she needed to know or advised her of actions they should have.