Her decision comes after a petition demanding that she be stripped of her CBE over the Horizon scandal, which saw hundreds of subpostmasters wrongly prosecuted for false accounting, theft and fraud, reached more than 1 million signatures.

Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells has announced that she will hand back her CBE with immediate effect following the Horizon IT scandal.

Vennells oversaw the Post Office while it accused around 700 subpostmasters and mistresses of fraud and theft, denying that its Horizon IT system was to blame for the financial discrepancies in the company’s finances.  Between 1999 and 2015 the Post Office relentlessly pursued operators, despite knowing that from at least 2010 onwards that there were faults in the centralised accounting software.

Hundreds of sub-post office operators ended up with criminal records and punishments as a result, with the scandal frequently described as the most widespread miscarriage of justice in UK history.

Her decision comes after a petition demanding that she be stripped of her CBE over the Horizon scandal, which saw hundreds of subpostmasters wrongly prosecuted for false accounting, theft and fraud, reached more than 1 million signatures.

Ms Vennells said in a statement: “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 sub-postmasters and others to return my CBE.

“I have listened and I confirm that I return my CBE with immediate effect.”

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