DISGRACED Post Office boss Paula Vennells bowed to boiling public pressure today and handed back her gong as establishment panic mounted over the scandalous persecution of sub-postmasters.
Her move came as ministers considered unprecedented legislative moves to exonerate all those falsely convicted of fraud or theft because of failings by the Post Office’s Horizon computer system.
Justice Secretary Alex Chalk told MPs that the “truly exceptional circumstances” surrounding the scandal made it right to consider passing a law simply clearing the hundreds who suffered unjust prosecutions.
He compared the miscarriage of justice to the notorious anti-Irish frame-ups of the Guildford Four and the Birmingham Six, but with “hundreds of victims.”
The slow pace of hearing appeals and of paying compensation has led to the calls for an expedited process, which some Tories oppose as interference in the judicial system.
The action has been forced by the public rage stimulated by the ITV drama on the case. The persecution of the sub-postmasters and the subsequent prolonged cover-up by the Post Office and IT supplier Fujitsu has now become a scandal coursing through the ranks of the establishment.
Ms Vennells, chief executive of the Post Office for seven years at the height of the cover-up, said she will return her CBE “with immediate effect,” and apologised for the devastation caused.
But former sub-postmistress Jo Hamilton, whose conviction was eventually quashed, asked: “Why did it take a million people to cripple her conscience,” referring to the number of people who have signed a petition calling for the honour to be stripped.
Ms Hamilton said: “We’re all sick and tired of people taking money, being paid exorbitant amounts of money, and politicians taking absolutely no notice of you whatsoever.”
Others are now moving into the firing line. Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey faces questions over his role as minister in the coalition government overseeing the Post Office.
He then brushed aside appeals to meet the affected postmasters.
Mr Davey claims he was systematically misled by the Post Office, but Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson, playing up to populist type, said that he had listened to “the bosses, not the workers,” which appears true.
Fujitsu, the manufacturer of the faulty Horizon system, has continued to secure lucrative public contracts to this day, but the government-orders gravy train may finally stop for it too.
A Downing Street spokesperson said that once the public inquiry into the issue has concluded, judgements would be made as to the company’s role going forward.
