Post Office boss ‘jumped before she was pushed’ says ex-postmaster
A wrongly-convicted subpostmaster from Lincolnshire[1] says he believes the former Post Office CEO "jumped before she was pushed" as she handed her CBE back over the Horizon IT scandal. Paula Vennells, who led the company through the 2010s as it wrongly prosecuted British postmasters for fraud, said she would hand the medal back in the wake of renewed controversy.
She routinely denied there was an issue with the problematic accounting software, but said today (January 9) that she must return it with "immediate effect" in light of a petition receiving more than a million signatures in a matter of days. She said in a statement: "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."
Hogsthorpe's[2] former subpostmaster Tom Hedges, 70, who was wrongly convicted back in 2010 as one of 700 accused of false accounting, said he was "very pleased" that Mrs Vennells had "finally done the right thing".
Poll: What's the best sandwich shop in Lincolnshire?[3]
However, he said she had "jumped before she was pushed". He said: "She's decided to hand it back rather than go through the indignity of having it taken away. Whatever it is, it's a good thing.
"But she's trying to mitigate how it looks to the public." It was reported that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak supported the notion of taking away Mrs Vennell's CBE.
An inquiry into the incident began in 2020 and is being led by Sir Wyn Williams, a retired high court judge. Mr Hedges said he wanted the inquiry to "name names" and hold people accountable.
He added: "I have a lot of faith Sir Wyn will get to the bottom of this and justice will be delivered." Then 57, Mr Hedges was handed a suspended seven-month prison sentence on top of 120 hours of community service and was told to pay £1,000 in court costs.
Former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells, pictured in 2012. (Image: Anthony Devlin/PA Wire)
His conviction was overturned in April 2021 along with 38 others, though bitter feelings remain over Mrs Vennells, 64, being awarded a CBE that same year. He added: "When she was awarded it, I just couldn't believe it. I have personally written three or four times stating the reasons I think she should lose it.
"It brings the entire honours system into disrepute when people like that receive them." The petition, calling for the 64-year-old to be stripped of the honour, was set up shortly after the conclusion of Mr Bates Vs the Post Office, a four-part ITV drama that tells the story of the Post Office's prosecutions of its postmasters for fraud, theft and false accounting.
Toby Jones stars as Alan Bates, a former subpostmaster who helped bring the issues with the Horizon software to light and led the case against the company, resulting in those convictions being overturned. As each episode aired, viewers took to social media to share their heartbreak and disgust, and Mr Hedges said the drama had stirred complicated emotions.
The ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office first aired on New Year's Day (Image: ITV)
He said: "At times, it was quite painful. My wife and I were sat in the lounge shouting at the television: 'That's exactly how it was. They said that. They accused us of that'.
"It was all very, very real - if anyone thinks that programme exaggerated anything, it did not. It was absolutely true to life." He added: "I'm delighted people are talking about it again."
He said that neither of his two daughters, both in their 40s, had managed to make it through a single episode in one sitting as it "took them back to those terrible days". The 70-year-old, who now works as an authorised lay minister and churchwarden at St Mary's in Hogsthorpe, said his "very strong faith" helped him through the ordeal.
Tom Hedges when he ran Hogsthorpe Post Office (Image: Submitted)
Others struggled greatly, with four people having committed suicide in the years since the scandal began. Though he was "elated" that his conviction had been quashed, he is keen to see everyone who was affected compensated.
He received the full £100,000 compensation offered by the Post Office in mid-2021 but wants more to account for a loss of earnings. That process began back in December though he says, after two years, he's "no closer".
He said that he wants everyone affected to get compensation. He said: "There were about 2,500 people who didn't get prosecuted and were just fired.
"They still had to pay money back to the Post Office and it still wrecked their lives. There needs to be a way of compensating them and exonerating them - there are still black marks over them."
He added: "The extra publicity has been brilliant. I'm hoping it might help us finally get it over the line."
Mrs Vennells stepped down from her role as Post Office CEO after seven years in February 2019. She was awarded a CBE for "services to the Post Office and to charity," having returned the company to profit when it was losing £120m a year.
References
- ^ Lincolnshire (www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk)
- ^ Hogsthorpe's (www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk)
- ^ What's the best sandwich shop in Lincolnshire? (xd.wayin.com)