Paula Vennells makes her first public appearance following allegations she may have been told about a “covert ops team” that could remotely access Horizon systems and tweak branches two years before she appeared in parliament Institutional Account.

Channel 4 News obtained audio recordings from 2013 in which the Post Office’s chief lawyer Susan Crichton twice confirmed Ms Vennells was aware of the allegations, two years before the prosecution against the deputy postmaster general was stopped.

In his letter to parliament, the former Post Office boss denied that remote access was possible.

In the video released on Sunday (April 7), Ms Vennells did not answer questions from a Channel 4 reporter about the allegations.

We contacted the Post Office for comment.