'I considered turning it down,' the subpostmaster tells i - revealing he learned of his honour as ex-chief executive Paula Vennells was grilled over her role in the scandal
- revealing he learned of his honour as ex-chief executive Paula Vennells was grilled over her role in the scandal
“I half did,” he said. “I turned down the OBE because of Paula Vennells having the CBE at that time for her services to Post Office. “I felt was some recognition, not just for me and the work I’ve done, but for the whole group and what everyone had to go through. It’s been horrific,” he said. A Metropolitan Police investigation will examine possible offences, including perjury and perverting the course of justice once the inquiry ends.
Awards of the Royal Victorian Order are in the King’s gift and are bestowed independently of Downing Street to people who have served the monarch or the royal family in a personal way. Of the 1,077 recipients on the King’s Birthday Honours List, the youngest, Shamza Butt, 20, receives a BEM for her work as a Member of the National Citizens’ Service Trust Youth Voice Forum.
Her diagnosis with Retinitis Pigmentosa aged seven meant that she would slowly lose her sight over time, but a coach encouraged her to take up para-swimming – and she is now eyeing gold in Paris this summer. “Because it was Covid, all the leisure centres were closed, so I had to be a bit creative with my training. We turned one of the sheds into a gym and we have this massive hot tub in the garden.”A former Gurkha soldier who lost both legs in a blast in Afghanistan before becoming the world’s first double above-the-knee amputee to ascend Mount Everest said he was “thrilled” to receive an MBE.
He said: “Two things I think were very helpful. One of them is the way I grew up in hardship. Another one is my training in the military.
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