ALMOST 500,000 people have signed a petition demanding that former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells be stripped of her CBE.

The disgraced executive oversaw the wrongful sackings of more than 500 postmasters and postmistresses accused of theft and fraud because of a fault in the Post Office’s Horizon computer system.

Horizon identified the “loss” of hundreds of thousands of pounds from the accounts of individual Post Offices.

The scandal dates back to 1999 when the Post Office bought the computer system.

Ms Vennells and the board of the Post Office blamed local managers and hundreds of innocent employees were prosecuted.

Some ended up serving time in prison and others committed suicide.

In 2019 a group of postmasters/mistresses took joint legal action against the Post Office and won.

A public inquiry into the scandal was expected to end in 2022 but continues today and Post Office workers are still awaiting compensation.

The petition calling for Ms Vennells’s honour, awarded in 2019, to be withdrawn was launched on the 38 Degrees campaigning website. 

In 24 hours, it soared from 100,000 to almost 500,000 yesterday.

Communication Workers Union (CWU) national officer Andy Furey said: “The CWU fully reiterates our demand that the government strips former chief executive officer Paula Vennells of her CBE.

“This honour for Post Office services is an insult to every postmaster who were treated so abhorrently under her leadership.”

He also commended ITV drama series Mr Bates Vs The Post Office for its “tremendously moving depiction of such a harrowing story” that highlighted the scandal.

Mr Furey said: “Alan Bates and the Justice For Sub-Postmaster Alliance must be lauded for their tireless efforts to expose the disgraceful actions of the Post Office.”