The former Chief Executive Officer of the Post Office Paula Vennells returned her CBE this week [January 10]. A huge on-line petition of over one million signatures forced her into this decision.
Following a drama documentary on ITV a spot light was shone on the disgraceful treatment of over 700 post office staff who were affected by software faults in the Fujitzu Horizon system.
Sub-postmasters and Sub-postmistresses have been convicted of theft and false accounting and sent to prison, committed suicide and had their lives totally ruined by the actions of the Post Office.
Paula a former Church of England priest resigned her £4.9million job as CEO of the Post Office in 2019.
She lives with her husband in West End Road, Kempston, sent her two sons to Bedford School where the fees can be as much as £36,000 a year.
Paula sat on the board of governors at Bedford School part of the Harpur Trust group of schools.
Asked about her, Sir Clive Loader, Chair of Governors, said: “The Reverend Paula Vennells decided to step down from her position on the governing body of Bedford school, recognising her involvement with the Post Office [at the time] had become a distraction from her important work undertaken here at the school.”
She had been a governor since 2014.
Paula Vennells trained for Holy Orders from 2002 to 2005. She was ordained as a deacon in 2005 and became a priest in 2006, a year before she joined the Post Office.
Paula was one of two non-paid priests supporting the priest in charge, who is responsible for three village churches: St Owen’s, in Bromham; St Leonard’s in Stagsden and St Mary’s in Oakley.
Since resigning from the Post Office Paula has moved on to more highly paid jobs. Chair of a large NHS Trust, non executive director at Dunhelm [£55,000 to join the board] and Morrisons [£89,000 a year] and an advisory role at the Cabinet Office.
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed (“I should have done more”) Davey claims he was deeply misled by the Post Office executives over the Horizon problems when he was Minister for Postal Affairs in 2010. At the time he refused to meet with the leaders of the action group who were trying to get convictions overturned and compensation.
He said: “I do not believe a meeting would serve any useful purpose.”
In 2017 Davey joined the law firm Herbert Smith Freehills who were acting for the Post Office on the Horizon debacle. Engaged as a consultant on £5,000 a month, Davey says he never worked on the Horizon case, he left the company in 2022.
A government inquiry is currently underway and it is expected to report shortly and the overturning of convictions is expected to be fast tracked according to the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
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