The Post Office boss who presided over the cover-up of one of Britain’s biggest miscarriage of justice has announced she will step back from regular church duties.
Paula Vennells, an ordained priest, was in charge of the company from 2012 to 2019 and walked away with £4.9million in pay and bonuses.
There were calls for Mrs Vennells, 62, to be investigated as 39 postmasters wrongly convicted of stealing from their branches were finally cleared at the Court of Appeal on Friday.
The shortfalls in the accounts of local branches were the result of flaws in the Post Office’s Horizon IT system.
Mrs Vennells oversaw a failed mediation scheme and sacked a team of independent forensic accountants after they found the losses could have been caused by Horizon. The Post Office continued to recover debts and in 2017 Mrs Vennells chose to fight 550 postmasters through the civil courts.
St Albans minister truly sorry after dozens of post office workers wrongly convicted
Rev Paula Vennells issued the apology on Sunday as she announced she would take a step back from her regular church duties in the wake of the Horizon scandal
Updated
Rev Paula Vennells (Image: PA)
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By Press Association 2021
Post Office court case
Former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells has quit as a non-executive director of high street chains Morrisons and Dunelm in the wake of the subpostmaster miscarriage of justice scandal.
In brief updates to the London Stock Exchange, both companies said she would be leaving the roles, which include responsibilities for setting executive pay and upholding corporate responsibility.
She took home £89,000 in fees from Morrisons and £30,000 from Dunelm in the past year, according to the latest published annual accounts.
Paula Vennells (Anthony Devlin/PA)
Dunelm chairman Andy Harrison said: “We respect Paula’s decision to step down from the board and I would like to thank her for the positive contribution she has made to the business since her appointment in September 2019.”
Paula Vennells leaves non-executive positions after Court of Appeal delivers verdict on ‘appalling injustice’ that saw subpostmasters wrongly convicted