The woman who presided over the Post Office IT scandal should be stripped of her CBE, MPs said yesterday.
Their demand follows Friday’s dramatic Court of Appeal ruling in favour of 39 postmasters who were falsely branded criminals.
Paula Vennells, who earned £3.7million over six years as chief executive at the Post Office, yesterday quit the boards of supermarket chain Morrisons and homewares firm Dunelm.
Paula Vennells, who was chief executive at the Post Office during the scandal, should be stripped of her honour, according to MPs
She had already stepped down from other roles but is holding on to her honour for ‘services to the Post Office and to charity’.
Apr 23, 2021 | Parcel, Post |
Thirty nine sub-postmasters who were wrongly prosecuted between 2003 to 2013 by the UK Post Office have had their criminal convictions overturned.
The UK Post Office has said it sincerely apologises for serious failures in its historical conduct of prosecutions of postmasters, resulting in the Court of Appeal formally overturning 39 convictions – in uncontested appeals.
Post Office Chairman Tim Parker said: “The Post Office is extremely sorry for the impact on the lives of these postmasters and their families that was caused by historical failures.
“Post Office stopped prosecutions soon after its separation from Royal Mail a decade ago and has throughout this appeals process supported the overturning of the vast majority of convictions.
Matfen Jean Conteh It’s been a quiet Easter Sunday, with meeting outdoors not made easy by the bitter wind, but I hope you were able to get together outside with someone you may not have been able to meet for a long time. Things are slowly getting back to normal, and one sign of that is that the churches in Stamfordham and Matfen are now open every day again, from 10 am to 4 pm. You are very welcome to pop in any time during those hours. It’s hoped that Ryal church will also be able to open again soon.
Yes, that Horizon branch office management IT system
Lindsay Clark Wed 7 Apr 2021 // 10:25 UTC Share
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The UK Post Office has awarded Fujitsu a £42.5m contract extension to run the Horizon IT system, faults in which led to dozens of subpostmasters being wrongly prosecuted.
In December last year, the Court of Appeal formally cleared six subpostmasters of criminal convictions including false representation, false accounting, fraud and theft. Some of their convictions date back to 2004.
The ruling followed an October statement from the Post Office, which said it would not oppose 44 out of 47 appeals.
The Post Office had relied on evidence from its Fujitsu-made Horizon branch office management IT system when it privately prosecuted a large number of subpostmasters during the 2000s and early 2010s.
Royal Mail and Post Office revelation is blowing people s minds plymouthherald.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from plymouthherald.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.