Church is urged to de-frock Post Office priestess
Calls for IT scandal chief to lose her CofE ministry
THE Church of England was last night under pressure to de-frock the part-time priest who was at the heart of the Post Office IT scandal.
As a church minister, former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells provides guidance to her congregation.
But postmasters, including a church warden, yesterday claimed she had not shown the same ‘moral standards’ during her tenure at the Post Office. Between 1999 and 2015, hundreds of postmasters were sacked, made bankrupt or wrongly convicted after cash appeared to vanish from their tills.
But it was later ruled that shortfalls in the accounts of branches were the result of flaws in the Post Office’s IT system called Horizon.
Mrs Vennells, 61, ran the company between 2012 and 2019, and questions are being raised as to whether she knew about the flaws at the time and, if so, to what extent. They resulted in hundreds of postmasters being driven into court in a fight that cost the taxpayer £90million.
Mrs Vennells went on to land plum roles as an adviser to the Government and chairman of a London NHS trust. The married mother-oftwo, who was paid £4.9million during her Post Office tenure, was also made a CBE. She apologised to postmasters in December as a result of coverage in the Mail. Now churchgoers and postmasters have written to the Bishop of St Albans calling for Mrs Vennells to be de-frocked from her ministry in Bedfordshire.
Tom Hedges, a church warden and former postmaster, who received a suspended sentence after being accused of stealing £20,000 in 2010, said: ‘It was an absolute nightmare. As Christians, we should always try to forgive, but the apology she gave was couched in a way that did not ring true to me. I really think the bishop should stop her ministry.’
Andy Furey, of the Communications Workers Union, which represents some postmasters, said: ‘Our members will find it hypocritical that, in her role as a priest, she is still trusted with providing guidance to her congregation, when she did not apply those moral standards when dealing with the victims and their families.’
The Bishop of St Albans, Dr Alan Smith, said: ‘My view, taken following legal advice, is that I cannot simply impute to Mrs Vennells all of the failures found to have been committed by Post Office Ltd.’
There is also growing pressure at the heart of Government for Mrs Vennells to be removed from her role as chairman of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. A senior minister said: ‘It’s outrageous. It just looks like rewards for failure.’
In March Mrs Vennells was dumped as an adviser to the Cabinet Office amid fears the scandal was becoming toxic for No 10. Last week MPs called for Post Office bosses to face criminal prosecutions.
Mrs Vennells is accused of ignoring a 2013 report which found ‘phantom’ losses in postmasters’ accounts could have been caused by the IT system. In 2017 she decided to fight 550 postmasters in civil courts, which cost £32million in legal fees. In December the Post Office settled for £58million. Separately the cases of 47 postmasters convicted of theft, false accounting and fraud have been sent to the Court of Appeal, and 14 more are under review. A further 900 cases could follow.
‘Bishop should drop her’
Comment – Page 16