Post Office scandal – live: Paula Vennells hands back CBE after more than 1 million sign petition
Paula Vennells first became involved in the company in 2007, before being promoted to chief executive in 2012 and stepping down in 2019
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Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells is to hand back her CBE following the fallout of the Horizon IT scandal which led to the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of subpostmasters.
The former chief executive, who ran the Post Office while it routinely denied there was a problem with its Horizon IT system, was appointed a CBE in December 2018.
In a statement, Ms Vennells said: “I have so far maintained my silence as I considered it inappropriate to comment publicly while the Inquiry remains ongoing and before I have provided my oral evidence.
“I am, however, aware of the calls from subpostmasters and others to return my CBE. I have listened and I confirm that I return my CBE with immediate effect.
“I am truly sorry 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.”
It comes after demands for her to return the honour intensified after an ITV drama returned the widespread miscarriage of justice to the spotlight and a petition to see her lose the honour attracted more than 1 million signatures.
Handing back CBE ‘right thing to do’, says campaigning Tory
Lord Arbuthnot, the campaigning Tory peer who sits on the Horizon compensation advisory board, has said Paula Vennells’s decision to give back her CBE is “the right thing” to do.
He told Sky News: “I’m pleased this has now happened because it means the sub-postmasters can begin to concentrate on the wider picture of getting convictions overturned... and getting their compensation quickly.
“Then we can focus on the holding to account of those including Paula Vennells, who have put them through this.”
Tories should explain Vennells’ CBE, say Lib Dems
The Liberal Democrats’ deputy leader Daisy Cooper said Paula Vennells was “right” to hand back her CBE – but claimed that the Conservatives “still need to explain why they gave it to her in the first place in 2019, along with a plum job at the top of the Cabinet Office”.
She added: “Oliver Dowden needs to explain why he failed to sack Paula Vennells as a Cabinet Office director when the high court judgment was handed down in 2019, exposing her full involvement in the Horizon scandal.”
Family of Post Office victim asks ‘who gave her that CBE?'
Varchas Patel, whose father Vipin who was wrongfully convicted of fraud in 2011 after being accused of stealing £75,000 from his Post Office branch in Oxford, said Paula Vennells did not deserve her CBE, labelling it as a “golden handshake for fighting Mr Bates in court.”
Mr Patel told the PA news agency: “My initial reaction is good, I’m glad. She doesn’t deserve that CBE, she never did deserve that CBE.
“Now the big question for me is, who gave her that CBE?
“When she was given that CBE… there were two other things that happened – one, she was given a CBE, two, she was given a seat at the Cabinet Office and three, she was given a job as the chair of the Imperial College (Healthcare NHS Trust). They gave her three golden handshakes for fighting Mr Bates in court.”
Mr Patel added: “It’s not just Paula Vennells, there are others.
“There are in-house Post Office lawyers, and especially the in-house investigators – the investigators who investigated the likes of my father and others.”
What does the King have to do now Paula Vennells has handed back her CBE?
Former Post Office boss Paula Vennels said in a statement that she had “listened” to the calls from critics including hounded supostmasters and will “return my CBE with immediate effect”.
But the process is a little bit more tricky than that, and even involves the King.
The only person who can actually forfeit an honour is Charles. The King takes advice from the Forfeiture Committee chaired by senior civil servant Sir Chris Wormald.
Typically, the group might recommend someone is stripped of their gong if they are convicted of a criminal offence, or any other behaviour that brings the honours system into disrepute.
But individuals can also signal they want to renounce their honour, as Ms Vennells has now done. Until the King acts on the advice of the committee, however, Ms Vennells continues to hold the title.
SNP government looking at ‘pardon scheme’ for Scottish postmasters
SNP government looking at ‘pardon scheme’ for Scottish postmastersThe Scottish government is looking at the idea of a separate “pardon scheme” for Scottish postmasters affected by the Horizon scandal, the SNP justice secretary has said.
The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) has already sent seven such cases to the appeal court, two of which have resulted in overturned convictions, Angela Constance said in Holyrood on Tuesday.
But the SNP minister added: “We are, however, looking at what more can be done. We are looking at the idea of a pardon scheme.”
Downing Street welcomes Vennells returning her CBE
Downing Street has welcomed former Post Office boss Paula Vennells announcing she wants to hand back her CBE over the Horizon scandal.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We think that is obviously the right decision.
“Our focus continues to be on ensuring all those whose lives were torn apart have swifter access to compensation and justice.”
Previously, an official spokesperson said that Mr Sunak would “strongly support” the forfeiture committee “if they were to choose to investigate”.
Watch: Fujitsu will ‘possibly’ have to pay compensation for Post Office Horizon scandal victims, minister says
Fujitsu will “quite possibly” be “on the hook” to pay compensation to victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal, a government minister has said.
More than 700 Post Office branch managers were convicted after faulty Fujitsu accounting software Horizon made it look like money was missing from their shops.
A public inquiry into the scandal is ongoing.
“It won’t necessarily just be the taxpayer... that is on the hook for this money”, Mel Stride told Nick Ferrari on LBC on Tuesday.
We’re pausing our live coverage of the post office scandal but keep checking independent.co.uk for the latest updates.
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