The decision by the former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells to hand back her CBE marks an ignominious end to a career that will be remembered for her organisation’s relentless run of wrongful prosecutions against more than 900 post office operators.
Last year, Alan Bates, the operator who led the campaign to expose the Horizon IT scandal and whose story has now been told in an ITV drama, turned down an OBE, making the point that it would be “inappropriate” while victims still suffered and Vennells retained her accolade.
