The former CEO of the UK’s Post Office, Paula Vennells, has announced she will be returning her CBE, the third-highest ranking honour, for “services to the Post Office and to charity”, amid mounting pressure relating to the Horizon IT scandal. Over 700 sub-postmasters were prosecuted based on erroneous data from faulty software, and many were financially ruined or imprisoned for false accounting or theft. The scandal has been described as one of the most significant miscarriages of justice in UK history, leading to over a million signatures on a petition for the return of Vennells’ CBE.
In a statement, Vennells apologised “for the devastation caused to the sub-postmasters and their families, whose lives were torn apart by being wrongly accused and wrongly prosecuted as a result of the Horizon system.” Vennells had faced extensive criticism surrounding her role in the scandal, having served as the Post Office’s CEO between 2012 and 2019, and despite over 550 sub-postmasters launching legal action against the company in 2017, she was included in the New Year’s Honours list in 2019.
While individuals may indicate their desire to renounce their honours, only the Forfeiture Committee can officially remove them, with King Charles having the final say. Despite Vennells’ decision to return her CBE, it is not yet clear whether it will have any formal effect.
The Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents over 110,000 Royal Mail staff, dismissed Vennells’ decision to return her honour as nothing more than a “token gesture.” In calling for Vennells to return performance-related bonuses received during her term as CEO, CWU national officer Andy Furey described the Horizon scandal as the most significant miscarriage of justice in British history.
Victims of the scandal, which began in 1999 and lasted until 2015, have been left fighting for their compensation and to have their overturned convictions recognised. Jo Hamilton, a former subpostmistress wrongly convicted of stealing thousands of pounds in 2008, expressed her satisfaction with Vennells’ decision but suggested that it had taken the signatures of a million people for Vennells’ conscience to be crippled
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