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To: Sir Chris Wormald, Chair of the Forfeiture Committee, Cabinet Office

Post Office Scandal: Strip Paula Vennells of her CBE

09/01/24 - We did it!

Ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells has bowed to our 1.2 million strong petition and will hand back her CBE with immediate effect.

She said she was “truly sorry for the devastation caused to the subpostmasters and their families” and that she as continuing to support and co-operate with the inquiry into the scandal.

She added: “I am, however, aware of the calls from sub-postmasters and others to return my CBE. I have listened and I confirm that I return my CBE with immediate effect.”

David Smith, who started this petition said:

"Thank you to each and every person who has signed this petition. It has been a catalyst for action allowing us to have a voice and is hopefully a first historic step on the path to the victims of the Post Office scandal getting the justice they deserve."

“To me, the removal of the CBE is just the start. The ultimate goal is for the subpostmasters to get the justice they deserve. In many ways, this is symbolic, but it is a massive symbol."

“What I’m hoping is that as soon as somebody as senior as her is held accountable at this level, it will start a domino effect that will lead to the justice and compensation that everyone affected deserves.”

You can read more about the story here
https://home.38degrees.org.uk/2024/01/09/post-office-scandal-win-paula-vennells-hands-back-cbe-but-fight-for-justice-goes-on/

In other news a new petition has been started calling for Alan Bates to be honoured for his role in exposing the Post Office scandal. You can sign that here
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/give-alan-bates-a-cbe-for-exposing-post-office-scandal

Remove the CBE granted to Paula Vennells due to her role in the wrongful prosecution of 550 Post Office staff as part of the Horizon computer scandal.

Why is this important?

Evidence has been produced that the Post Office engaged in a mass cover up which led to the wrongful prosecution of 550 Post Office Staff many of whom were subsequently jailed, bankrupted and in some cases, sadly took their own lives.

The initial Post Office investigation in 2012 failed to find any issues and as a result in 2012, Second Sight, an independent investigative firm were brought in to investigate complaints that the Horizon system used in post offices was inaccurate, buggy and could 'lose money'. Despite pledging full co-operation initially, Post Office subsequently withheld documents from the investigation and Paula Vennells later failed to answer a select committee when challenged on why this documents had not been produced as requested. The damning report, marked as 'confidential' stated that the Horizon system was 'not fit for purpose' and among their discoveries were 12,000 communication failures every year, software defects at 76 branches and that the system was failing to track money from lottery terminal, tax disc sales and cash machines properly. It concluded that rather than investigate the cause of such errors, Post Office instead accused sub-postmasters of theft. The Post Office dismissed the report which was subsequently leaked to the BBC in 2014.

Despite Paula Vennells assertion that Post Office "have been working with Second Sight over the last few weeks on what we agreed at the outset. We have been provided the information" to Parliament at her select committee appearance in 2015, the lead investigator for Second Sight, Adrian Bailey, when asked if this was the case said categorically, "No, it is not" which meant that he could not access files to back up his suspicions that Post Office Ltd had brought cases against sub-postmasters with 'inadequate investigation and inadequate evidence'. The requested files had still not been handed over to Second Sight 18 months later.

In March 2015, on the eve of the Second Sight report publication, Private Eye reported that the Post Office had instructed Second Sight to end their investigation, destroy all paperwork and scrapped the independent committee that had been convened.

In 2019, a class action case, Bates & Ors v Post Office Ltd, was settled by the Post Office in favour of the 550 sub-postmasters for over £58 million.

Mr Justice Fraser, the judge in the case concluded that the approach of the Post Office: "amounted, in reality, to bare assertions and denials that ignore what has actually occurred, at least so far as the witnesses called before me in the Horizon Issues trial are concerned. It amounts to the 21st century equivalent of maintaining that the earth is flat."

Mr Justice Fraser, so concerned by what he had seen in the case, has passed a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions. In the Lords, Baron Arbuthnot of Edrom said in November 2019: "My own suggestion is that the government should clear out the entirety of the board and senior management of the Post Office and start again, perhaps with the assistance of consultancy services from Second Sight, who know where the bodies are buried.".

Having been handed a CBE for services to the Post Office, and moved out into other senior positions in government and healthcare, it is only right that this award is now withdrawn through the process of forfeiture.

Paula Vennells has subsequently refused to answer questions from these staff as well as the media and has refused to apologise for the cover-up, misery and trauma caused which has brought not only herself but the Post Office, the honours system and government into disrepute.

Category

Updates

2024-01-05 16:45:57 +0000

500,000 signatures reached

2024-01-05 11:18:15 +0000

400,000 signatures reached

2024-01-04 23:11:24 +0000

300,000 signatures reached

2024-01-04 18:15:03 +0000

200,000 signatures reached

2024-01-04 13:50:20 +0000

150,000 signatures reached

2024-01-04 08:20:54 +0000

100,000 signatures reached

2024-01-03 18:58:05 +0000

50,000 signatures reached

2024-01-03 12:44:54 +0000

20,000 signatures reached

2024-01-02 21:43:39 +0000

10,000 signatures reached

2024-01-01 22:54:35 +0000

5,000 signatures reached

2020-12-21 05:24:08 +0000

1,000 signatures reached

2020-12-09 16:28:00 +0000

Thank you to everybody who has signed so far. Please try to keep getting the word out there by sharing with your friends.

Many people's lives were ruined in front of their eyes, their careers ended and years of heartache and struggle to clear their names. We shouldn't be honouring people who presided over this mess and haven't taken any meaningful steps to help resolve the situation.

Thanks again for signing!

2020-12-09 16:07:15 +0000

500 signatures reached

2020-12-08 17:12:32 +0000

100 signatures reached

2020-12-01 21:51:07 +0000

50 signatures reached