Paula Vennells’ church compares Post Office TV drama to The Crown and says she shouldn't be judged on show
9 January 2024, 11:03 | Updated: 9 January 2024, 12:47
Paula Vennells should not be judged on the TV dramatisation of the Horizon scandal as it's 'a bit like The Crown', her church has said.
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Ms Vennells, 65, was ordained as a priest in 2006 and later went on to be an associate minister in the diocese of St Albans during the same period she ran the post office.
There has been mounting pressure for her CBE to be revoked after ITV aired Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which dramatised the Horizon scandal.
Now a spokesman for the Bishop of St Albans has said that judging the former boss on the TV drama would not be right as it “diverges from actual fact into TV”.
Ms Vennells, who held the role of Post Office chief executive between 2012 and 2019, was heavily featured in the TV drama.
The spokesman for the bishop said: “It [the TV show] is a bit like The Crown where it diverges from actual fact into TV.
“The television show has... diverged from established public fact and that is why we need the appropriate processes to go ahead.”
Alan Johnson on the courts overturning
The Horizon scandal came about after more than 700 branch managers were convicted of false accounting, theft and fraud based on faulty software.
Bishop Rt Revd Alan Smith said in a statement: “The recent ITV dramatisation understandably rekindles the suffering and pain of the sub-postmasters and their families who are victims of the Horizon IT scandal, and anger in all of us for such a serious miscarriage of justice.
“I hope and pray that the public inquiry will explain fully the sequence of events, provide redress for the victims and hold to account the responsible people and organisations.”
Ms Vennells stepped down from her post in 2021 after 39 sub-postmasters were cleared of any wrongdoing by the Court of Appeal.
The former Post Office chief executive, along with other former Post Office bosses, is accused of presiding over one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British history.
Since the TV drama aired, further claims have emerged that the Post Office could have wrongly prosecuted dozens more operators due to the Horizon system.
Ms Vennells still holds a license that allows her to perform some clerical duties - although she has not done so since stepping down in 2019.
In a statement released by Bishop Smith three years ago, he also said there was “a difference between allegations made against Post Office Limited and allegations of personal wrongdoing by Ms Vennells” as he argued it was unfair to “impute” the former boss for all of the failures committed in the scandal.
It comes as former Labour Home Secretary Alan Johnson told LBC this morning that he would rather see the courts, not parliament, overturn convictions in the Post Office scandal because of the "precedent it sets”.
Mr Johnson also called for Fujitsu, which developed the Horizon accounting software, to pay compensations to victims.
He said the firm should “without a doubt” be responsible for paying up. “This is the fault of the Horizon system. It has to be Fujitsu,” he added.
Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak gathered his Cabinet to hammer out a plan to clear Post Office scandal victims.
Ministers have been holding talks with judges, and Fujitsu has been warned it could face huge compensation bill amid ongoing discussions about the convictions.
The Government is considering ways to overturn the convictions, including possible legislation.
But some of the wronged subpostmasters want to have their names cleared in the courts and the Post Office held to account, rather than through legislation.
Rishi Sunak said on Monday he would "strongly support" the Honours Forfeiture Committee if it decided to review Ms Vennells’ CBE following the scandal.
