How Horizon IT scandal brought down former Post Office boss Paula Vennells

Return of CBE marks ignominious end to career of chief executive during company’s pursuit of wrongful prosecutions

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 subpostmasters.

Last year, Alan Bates, the post office 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.