A top NHS job and 'resignation from the church': Post Office boss Paula Vennells' life as she faces calls to hand back CBE
4 January 2024, 14:10 | Updated: 5 January 2024, 16:47
With the Horizon Scandal being dramatised through Mr Bates vs The Post Office, the question arises: What has Paula Vennells been involved in before, and since, the 'most widespread miscarriage of justice'?
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From 2012 to 2019, Paula Vennells was the Chief Executive Officer of Post Office Limited - at the same time hundreds of sub-postmasters were wrongfully convicted of false accounting, theft and fraud.
Between 1999 and 2015, over 700 people were wrongly prosecuted. Those managers were imprisoned, and financially ruined. Some even committed suicide.
One postmaster was left disabled, his son told LBC.
Thee son of an ex-postmaster told LBC's Nick Ferrari that his father was accused of stealing £75,000.
He added that his father's health "catastrophically deteriorated" after the ordeal.
Son of wrongly convicted postmaster: 'My father is now disabled'
Paula Vennells was CEO of the Post Office from 2012 to 2019, leaving with a staggering £400,000 bonus.
In 2019, before the High Court ruling, she stepped down from her role to start a new position as chair of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.
Ms Vennells then stepped down as chair of the NHS trust in April 2021, citing it as a personal decision.
In a statement, she said: "By the time I leave, I will have been in the position for two years. While I will be very sad to go, it is a personal decision at the right time.
"I am so proud of what we achieve across our hospitals - from the fantastic care and treatment to the outstanding research and education."
After the Court of Appeal quashed the convictions of 39 convicted former postmasters, Ms Vennells apologised.
She said: "I am truly sorry for the suffering caused to the 39 sub-postmasters as a result of their convictions which were overturned last week."
Before working for the Post Office, Ms Vennells trained for the Holy Orders on the St Albans and Oxford Ministry Course.
She became a priest in 2006, as well as serving as a non-stipendiary minister at the Church St Owen, Bromham, in the Diocese of St Albans.
In 2021, she reportedly stepped away from her duties as an Anglican priest and resigned as a member.
Paula Vennells was included in the 2019 New Year Honours list and was appointed a CBE for services to the Post Office and to Charity.
But now there are calls for the controversial businesswoman to give back her CBE.
On Wednesday, Conservative MP Kevin Hollinrake said Ms Vennells should give up her award and added that he would support criminal prosecutions following the Horizon Scandal.
Mr Hollinrake said: "Paula Vennells got a CBE for service to The Post Office.
"I think that matter needs to be looked at. If I was Paula Vennells, I would seriously consider handing that back voluntarily at this point in time."
There is even a petition for the ex-CEO to take away her CBE, which has now reached over 100,000 signatures.
Outside of her professional life, Ms Vennells is a mother of two children, Luke and Edward.
She met her husband, John, at the university dinghy club, according to The Times.
