- Britain's former postmaster general has said he will return the honor of Commander of the Order of the British Empire, which he received in 2018.
- This was done in response to public outrage over hundreds of postmasters being falsely accused due to a flaw in the computer system.
- The UK government is considering a mass pardon for more than 700 branch managers convicted of theft and fraud between 1999 and 2015.
The former head of Britain's National Post Office announced on Tuesday that he would return his royal honors in response to growing outrage over a miscarriage of justice in which hundreds of postmasters were wrongly accused of theft due to a computer system flaw.
The UK government has granted mass amnesty to more than 700 branch managers convicted of theft and fraud between 1999 and 2015 after post office computers incorrectly showed cash missing from stores. I am considering whether to give it. The real culprit was a flawed accounting system called Horizon provided by Japanese technology company Fujitsu.
Former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennels has announced that she will be giving up the title of Commander of the Order of the British Empire, which she received in 2018. An online petition calling for his name to be stripped has attracted more than 1.2 million supporters.
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Mr Vennels, who led the Post Office from 2012 to 2019, said: “I have listened and confirmed that the CBE will be returned immediately.”
Royal Mail Post Office photographed in London on October 10, 2013. British police have launched a fraud investigation into Britain's Post Office over a miscarriage of justice in which hundreds of postmasters were falsely accused of stealing money due to a computer system flaw. Blame. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)
“I am truly sorry for the devastation caused to the subpostmaster and his family who were wrongly accused by the Horizon system and whose lives were torn apart by being wrongly prosecuted,” she said.
Vennels added that he “remains committed to supporting and cooperating” with the public inquiry into the scandal, which has been ongoing since 2022.
Technically, Mr Vennells will retain his CBE title until it is stripped by the disgorgement committee, but Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said he supports this.
For years, the Postal Service maintained that data from Horizon was reliable and accused branch managers of wrongdoing. Many were forced to pay large sums of money to their companies, resulting in financial ruin, and some were sent to prison. Some people committed suicide.
The long-simmering scandal sparked fresh outrage last week with the broadcast of the television docudrama “Mr. Bates vs. the Post Office.” The film depicts the 20-year battle of branch manager Alan Bates, played by Toby Jones, to expose the truth and exonerate postal workers who have been wronged.
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“I'm glad she gave it back,” said Jo Hamilton, who was wrongly convicted of stealing thousands of pounds from a village post office in southern England in 2008. “It's a shame it only took a million people to numb her conscience.”
After years of campaigning by victims and their lawyers, the Court of Appeal quashed 39 of the convictions in 2021. The judge said the Postal Service was “aware that there were serious problems” with Horizon's credibility and had made “egregious” failures in its investigation and investigation. Disclosure.
A total of 93 postal workers have had their convictions overturned, but many others have not yet been acquitted, according to the Postal Service.
Police have launched a fraud investigation into the post office, but so far no arrests or criminal charges have been filed against the company or Fujitsu officials.
