A Tory peer and former MP who has campaigned relentlessly for subpostmasters broke down in tears as he listened to recordings proving that Post Office management knew its workers were not to blame for errors recorded by the Horizon IT system.
Between 1999 and 2015 an estimated 4,000 branch owner-managers were accused of wrongdoing after faulty IT software showed unexplained shortfalls in their accounts, with over 900 prosecuted and 236 sent to prison.
The tapes, details of which were shared with The Times in January and which were broadcast for the first time on Wednesday by Channel 4 News, show that senior staff were preparing to brief Paula Vennells, the Post Office chief executive at the time, that remote access to Horizon accounts was
