January 9, 2024, 1:15 p.m. GMT
Updated 5 minutes ago
Image source: Parliament TV
image description,
Paula Vennells said she was “truly sorry for the devastation” caused to sub-postmasters and their families
Former postal boss Paula Vennells is handing back her CBE with immediate effect after facing increasing pressure over the Horizon IT scandal.
More than 700 subpostmasters have been prosecuted based on information gleaned from faulty software.
Some people went to prison for false accounting and theft, and many were financially ruined.
More than a million people have signed a petition calling on her to hand back her CBE.
In a statement, Ms Vennells said she had “listened” to subpostmasters and others who called on her to return her CBE.
“I am truly sorry for the devastation caused to the subpostmasters and their families whose lives have been devastated by false accusations and prosecution as a result of the Horizon system.”
Ms Vennells has long faced questions about her role in the scandal, which has been described as one of the most widespread miscarriages of justice in UK history.
She was chief executive of the post office from 2012 to 2019 and received a CBE for her services to the post office and charities.
More than 700 post office owners and operators were wrongly prosecuted for theft, fraud and false accounting between 1999 and 2015 as a result of incorrect information in Horizon software.
Ms Vennells was named to the New Year's Honors List in 2019 despite ongoing legal action against the post office by 555 sub-postmasters in 2017.
Post Office said the award was given for its work on “diversity and inclusion” and its “commitment to the social purpose at the heart of the business and its commitment to putting the customer first”.
But despite Mrs. Vennells' offer, King Charles is the only person who can take away someone's honor.
People can indicate that they want to renounce their honor, as Ms. Vennells has now done. But until the King is advised by the Forfeiture Committee and follows its advice, Ms Vennells will continue to hold her CBE.
The Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents 110,000 Royal Mail employees, said Ms Vennells' decision was “a symbolic gesture”.
CWU national officer Andy Furey said: “Receiving such an award for services to the post office was always going to be a slap in the face to every postmaster who has suffered terribly under her leadership.”
Mr. Furey also ordered Ms. Vennells to return performance-related bonuses she received while working at the post office.
He said: “Given she received these bonuses while overseeing the biggest miscarriage of justice in British history, it would only be right to return this money.”
Many victims of the scandal, which began in 1999, are still fighting to have their convictions overturned or to receive full compensation after they were forced to pay out thousands of pounds of their own money for shortfalls caused by the Horizon accounting software.
Jo Hamilton, a former sub-postmaster who was wrongly convicted of stealing thousands of pounds from a Hampshire village shop in 2008, said she was glad Ms Vennells had agreed to return the honour.
“It's a shame that it only took a million people to paralyze their conscience,” she said.
Varchas Patel, whose father Vipin was wrongly convicted of fraud in 2011 after he was accused of stealing £75,000 from his Oxford post office, said Ms Vennells did not deserve her honour.
Mr Patel told the PA news agency: “My initial reaction is good, I’m happy. She doesn’t deserve this CBE, she never deserved this CBE.”
Ms Vennells joined the post office in 2007 and was promoted to managing director in 2012.
She held the top post until February 2019, when she resigned. During her tenure, the company repeatedly denied that there were problems with its Horizon IT system.
A government source told the PA news agency that Ms Vennell agreeing to hand back her CBE was “the right thing to do”.
Downing Street previously said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak would “strongly support” the Honors Forfeiture Committee if it decided to consider withdrawing the award.
The title “CBE” (Commander of the British Empire) is awarded to someone who has “dedicated themselves to the community or country above and beyond”.
After a Dame or Knighthood, it is the highest level of the Order of the British Empire, followed by the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) and the MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire).
The post office was part of Royal Mail until 2012, when it was split off. Between 2003 and 2010, Adam Crozier was managing director of Royal Mail. He then ran ITV and is now chairman of BT.
He was replaced by Dame Moya Greene, who led Royal Mail for eight years. During this time the company was privatized and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2013.
On Tuesday, Attorney General Alex Chalk said the idea of using legislation to overturn the convictions of all postal workers implicated in the scandal was being “actively explored.”
In the House of Commons, former minister Nadhim Zahawi – who recently appeared and played himself in the ITV drama series Mr Bates vs the Post Office – called for a “simple bill” to overturn all remaining convictions based on “bad data”.
“Until these convictions are overturned, the victims cannot seek compensation,” Mr Zahawi said.
In response, Mr Chalk said the issue was “an appalling injustice” and Mr Zahawi’s proposal was “being actively considered”.
Other senior figures calling for legislation to speed up the process of overturning convictions include Labor peer Lord Falconer, who was justice secretary under Tony Blair, and former Conservative justice secretary Sir Robert Buckland.
However, others disagreed, including former Attorney-General Dominic Grieve, who told the BBC that it was “parliamentary interference in the judicial process”.
Instead, he said each case “should be considered on its own merits” and referred it to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates alleged miscarriages of justice.
The scandal has been described as the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British history, but to date only 93 convictions have been overturned and of those, only 30 people have agreed to a “full and final” compensation agreement, meaning many victims are still struggling to to be acquitted their names.
Approximately 54 cases resulted in either the conviction being upheld, people being denied permission to appeal, or the person making the appeal withdrawing from the proceedings.