Emails reveal how Paula Vennells joked about drinking champagne after learning of CBE

Paula Vennells joked about drinking champagne after being told she would receive a CBE for her Post Office work, The Telegraph can reveal.

News of the then-Post Office chief executive’s decoration was shared among staff in December 2018, just months before former sub-postmaster Alan Bates would win a High Court battle against the organisation.

Ms Vennells, who left the business weeks before the High Court verdict, had already handed in her resignation when a statement was drafted announcing that she would be made a Commander of the British Empire.

The embargoed release would state Ms Vennells, 65, had been recognised for her work on “diversity and inclusion” as well as her “commitment to the social purpose at the heart of the business and her dedication in putting the customer first”.

Ms Vennells announced she would be handing back her CBE in January and was formally stripped of the honour by the King the following month.

The ordained priest, who relinquished her clerical duties in 2021, will begin giving evidence to the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry on Wednesday for the first time in a much-anticipated appearance.

She has not been questioned publicly over Horizon for nearly a decade since she appeared in front of a select committee in 2015.

More than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongfully prosecuted as a result of the Horizon scandal, which saw shortfalls incorrectly recorded on their branch accounts by the faulty software.

An email sent by Ms Vennells to one well-wisher showed that the then-chief executive – who held the role between 2012 and 2019 – was already expecting her CBE to spark a backlash.

In another, she responded to a sender who said they hoped the chief executive and her family “celebrate in style”.

The email, the recipient of which was redacted, is one of several released as a result of a freedom of information request submitted by a member of the public.

On the same day, Ms Vennells personally thanked Mark Davies, her then-communications chief, for “guiding us through stormy waters”.

Giving evidence to the inquiry last week, Mr Davies accepted that in July 2013, he had advised Ms Vennells not to apologise to sub-postmasters.

Writing in his witness statement, the communications professional, who left the Post Office in 2019, said: “Because I did not have access to all the facts, I clearly played a part in prolonging the pain and injustice for those innocent people who were wrongly accused or whose convictions were unsafe. I am deeply sorry for that.”

Mr Davies declined to provide a response to The Telegraph’s request for comment.

Horizon victim Seema Misra, who was eight weeks pregnant when she was handed a 15-month sentence in November 2010 after pleading guilty to false accounting and being convicted of theft by a jury, said the emails were further proof that Ms Vennells should have never accepted her CBE in the first place.

Mrs Misra, who began running a branch in West Byfleet, Surrey, in 2005 and was prosecuted over an alleged shortfall of £74,000 told The Telegraph: “At this time, she was the goodie and I was the baddie in the media and everywhere at the time.

“It’s not ethical at all. At a time when sub-postmasters like myself were suffering, the people who put us in all of this mess were celebrating.”

Mrs Misra added: “She knew she was in the wrong then and she shouldn’t have accepted that CBE.”

‘Disturbing’ case files

Earlier this week, it emerged that Ms Vennells had described the cases of several Post Office prosecutions as “disturbing” more than a year before the business stopped pursuing sub-postmasters in the courts.

After being sent the case files of eight sub-postmasters by accountancy firm Second Sight, Ms Vennells wrote to Ron Warmington, its director: “I have just read through the attachments. Apart from finding them very disturbing [I defy anyone not to], I am now even better informed.”

In the email obtained by ITV News, Ms Vennells added: “I take this very seriously.”

Nadhim Zahawi, the Conservative MP, told the broadcaster that he believed the email would “come to be seen as the smoking gun that is the cover-up that has taken place at the Post Office”.

On Tuesday the inquiry heard that Ms Vennells was warned that a briefing document for Tory peer Lord Arbuthnot failed to disclose knowledge of Horizon bugs.

An email written by Alwen Lyons, the then-Post Office company secretary, in May 2013 to the chief executive read: “I do not think that that [disclosing bugs] is a phone call conversation but needs to be aired at some time with James, I would suggest at your meeting.”

Another document shown later to the inquiry suggested that more than a month later, Lord Arbuthnot, who had been campaigning on behalf of sub-postmasters, had still not been informed about the bugs by Post Office bosses.

Written by Ms Lyons, it suggested she had been delegated the task and planned to tell the Tory peer’s chief of staff about the bugs at a meeting the following week.

Questions Vennells may face

Ms Vennells is expected to face inquiry questions concerning her knowledge of the ability to remotely access the Horizon system, alleged false evidence given by expert witnesses during Post Office prosecutions, and the behaviour of the company’s investigators.

She may also be questioned on whether she believed there were any miscarriages of justice during her tenure after Alisdair Cameron, the chief financial officer, told the probe she did not and “could not have got there emotionally”.

A Post Office spokesperson said: “We apologise unreservedly to victims of the Horizon IT Scandal and our focus remains on supporting the ongoing public inquiry to establish the truth of what happened so those affected can receive the justice and redress they deserve.”

Lawyers representing Ms Vennells previously issued a statement on her behalf which read: “I continue to support and focus on co-operating with the Inquiry and expect to be giving evidence in the coming months.

“I am truly sorry for the devastation caused to the Sub-Postmasters and their families, whose lives were torn apart by being wrongly accused and wrongly prosecuted as a result of the Horizon system.

“I now intend to continue to focus on assisting the Inquiry and will not make any further public comment until it has concluded.”