A petition demanding ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells be stripped of her CBE has gathered over 100,000 signatures.
The former boss was in charge of the Post Office from 2012 to 2019, during which more than 700 sub postmasters were prosecuted for theft, fraud and false accounting.
Errors made by Horizon software, which was made by tech firm Fujitsu and used by the Post Office, led to financial losses in the company’s accounts.
Some workers lost their livelihoods, homes, and life savings as a result of paying back the money the Post Office claimed was missing.
The former boss was in charge of the Post Office from 2012 to 2019
PA
A few even took their lives as a result of the stress of the accusations.
A new ITV drama, which tells the story of the “greatest miscarriage of justice in British history”, has reignited calls for Vennells to be stripped of her title.
In 2021, she apologised for the “suffering” caused after 39 subpostmasters’ convictions were overturned.
A petition, which was set up three years ago to challenge Vennells’ CBE, has now reached over 100,000 signatures.
The figures skyrocketed in the last 48 hours, reaching landmarks of 10,000, 20,000 and 50,000 signatures all within a matter of days.
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In 2021, she apologised for the ‘suffering’ caused after 39 subpostmasters’ convictions were overturned
PA
Prior to this, it had just 1,000 backers.
Tory Minister Hollinrake has also called for Vennells to hand back her CBE.
The business minister, whose brief includes postal services, said: “Paula Vennells got a CBE for services to the Post Office.
“Ultimately you’ve got responsibility for what happened here, you’re the chief executive, if I was Paula Vennells I would seriously consider handing that back voluntarily at this point in time.”
Some postmasters had to pay back the money the Post Office claimed was missing
PA
He added that he would “absolutely” support criminal prosecutions for those responsible, who he said “should be held to account”.
Alan Bates, one of the postmasters accused, formed the Justice For Sub-postmasters Alliance in 2009 in the fight for justice against the Post Office.
Eventually, the Court of Appeal decided to overturn the criminal convictions of dozens of former sub-postmasters and postmistresses.
A public inquiry into the scandal is still ongoing today, as the new ITV show Mr Bates vs The Post Office aims to shed light on the stories of the sub-postmasters affected.
