A Post Office executive offered to pay £140,000 ‘hush money’ to the widow of a postmaster who killed himself after being wrongly being accused of fraud.CONTINUE FULL READING>>>>
The public inquiry into the Horizon IT system heard Angela van den Bogerd offered the widow of Martin Griffiths the money after he walked in front of a bus, in a key scene from the ITV drama Mr Bates V the Post Office.
The settlement was conditional on a non-disclosure agreement being signed by Gina Griffiths and the family dropping their claims against the Post Office.
Jason Beer KC, counsel to the inquiry, said the deal left the ‘Sword of Damocles’ hanging over the head of Mrs Griffiths and her children.
He added the money would be paid in instalments to ensure the relatives of Mr Griffiths remained ‘quiet’ about the scandal.
Martin Griffiths from Cheshire took his own life in 2013 when he stepped out in front of a bus after being hounded for £100,00 ‘missing’ cash by the Post Office
Former Post Office executive Angela van den Bogerd at the Horizon inquiry ‘You ensured that there was an NDA attached to that settlement, you agreed to the staging of payments to act as an incentive and used money as a tool to keep the matter hushed up,’ Mr Beer added.
Jason Beer KC lost his patience with the former Post Office executive during the Horizon inquiry.
He accused Ms van den Bogerd of using jargon as she tried to dodge difficult questions over the death of Martin Griffiths.
When asked about the specific settlement to the Griffiths family, Ms van den Bogerd replied ‘That was the broader piece of the network transformation. It covered everything’.
Mr Beer KC then asked her exactly what she meant and accused her of ‘word soup’.
He said: ‘ What does that mean? That’s just word soup… I asked you, Ms van den Bogerd – the payment was going to be conditional upon the family withdrawing the claim that they’d made under the mediation, wasn’t it?’
She answered: ‘Yes, because that’s the way the network transformation payment was set out.’
‘This is about the Post Office staging payments to act as an incentive to hold a ‘Sword of Damocles’ hanging above her (Gina’s) head- you do not get any money unless you keep quiet.’
The family of the late Mr Griffiths wrote a letter to Bogerd describing the offer as ‘disgusting’ after he died on 11 October, 2013 in hospital.
His daughter Lauren, said in an email dated 2 September, 2014: ‘I understand that you are putting what you discussed with my mum yesterday in writing to her.
‘It appears from what I have heard that you are offering the £140,000 “compensation payment” on the condition that we drop any action…
‘No amount of financial compensation could replace the fact that the Post Office has taken our dad away from our family, but simply put, £140,000 ‘compensation’ for our Dad’s life is simply disgusting.’
Mr Griffiths drove from his home in Cheshire along the A41 on 23 September 2013, having ‘been out of sorts all week’ over growing pressure at his branch at walked in front of bus, dying three weeks later.
Only on 2 May his branch, Hope Farm Road, was raided by two robbers armed with a sledgehammer and crowbar dressed in balaclavas.
Mr Griffiths was injured in the attack as he bravely battled to try and keep the men out.
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The Post Office originally held him liable for the event arguing he had not secured the safe and left the front door open and said he owed £38,000.
Ms van der Bogerd arriving at Aldwych House to give evidence at the Horizon inquiry
But a subsequent review lowered the amount to £7,500. Mr Griffiths was using the life savings of his parents to keep his branch afloat.
Bogerd told the inquiry being held in London before Sir Wyn Williams settlements from the Post Office for staff who left the company included NDAs.
She argued her primary concern was the family and was not interested in ‘hushing’ matters up.
‘My concern at the time was facilitating that payment to Gina. It was never to keep it hushed up. At the time, the Post Office was running a ‘Network Transfer Payment’ which was a compensation payment for a postmaster for loss of office.’CONTINUE FULL READING>>>>
The inquiry continues.
