Disgraced former Post Office boss Paula Vennells is handing back her CBE with immediate effect over her handling of the Horizon IT scandal.
The chief executive of the Post Office had come under immense pressure to give up the honour, awarded to her when she stepped down in 2019.
A petition for her to hand back the CBE had reached over 1 million signatures, while several ministers had backed calls for her to do so.
The renewed focus on the scandal comes amid a new ITV drama, Mr Bates vs the Post Office.
In a statement on Tuesday, Ms Vennells said: “I continue to support and focus on co-operating with the Inquiry and expect to be giving evidence in the coming months.
“I have so far maintained my silence as I considered it inappropriate to comment publicly while the Inquiry remains ongoing and before I have provided my oral evidence.
“I am, however, aware of the calls from subpostmasters and others to return my CBE.
“I have listened and I confirm that I return my CBE with immediate effect.
“I am truly sorry for the devastation caused to the sub-postmasters and their families, whose lives were torn apart by being wrongly accused and wrongly prosecuted as a result of the Horizon system.
Retired high court judge Sir Wyn Williams is chairing an inquiry into the Post Office scandal, considered the worst miscarriage of justice in recent British history.
More than 700 Post Office branch managers were given criminal convictions after faulty Horizon accounting software, developed by Fujitsu, made it appear as though money was missing.
In the ITV drama, Alan Bates, played by Toby Jones, has spent two decades of his life fighting for justice after hundreds of fellow postmasters and postmistresses were accused of theft, fraud, and false accounting due to faulty computers.
In 1999, Horizon, a defective Fujitsu IT system, began incorrectly reporting cash shortfalls at branches across the country. The accusations tore people’s lives apart, with many losing their jobs and homes.
Several people took their own lives due to the stress.
To this day, not a single Post Office or Fujitsu employee has been held to account over the scandal, much less faced criminal investigation. Sixty of the victims have died before finding any justice at all.
In a significant intervention, prime minister Rishi Sunak said he would “strongly support” the body that reviews honours if it decided to look at revoking the award.
And now ministers are in crunch talks with judges to expedite clearing the names of the wrongfully convicted subpostmasters.
Alan Bates had called for Paula Vennells to give up the CBE
