The former boss of the Post Office has handed back her CBE amid the Horizon IT scandal.
Paula Vennells said she was “truly sorry for the devastation caused” to hundreds of sub-postmasters who were wrongly convicted of fraud.
Her decision to return the gong came a day after Rishi Sunak said he would “strongly support” moves to strip her of the honour.
A petition calling for the Chair of the Forfeiture Committee to strip Vennells of her CBE had exceeded 1.2 million signatures by Tuesday morning.
The Post Office started to accuse sub-postmasters around the country of false accounting, fraud and theft, based on data from its Horizon IT system, in 2000.
That continued until 2015, even though serious accounting flaws were first discovered with the software back in 2010.
More than 700 ended up being prosecuted by the Post Office and received criminal convictions.
A judge-led inquiry is currently being held into the scandal, which hit the headlines again over Christmas thanks to the ITV drama ’Mr Bates vs the Post Office.”
In a statement, Vennells, who was chief executive of the Post Office between 2012 and 2019, said: “I have so far maintained my silence as I considered it inappropriate to comment publicly while the inquiry remains ongoing and before I have given my oral evidence.
“I am aware, however, of the calls from sub-postmasters and others to return by CBE.
“I have listened and I confirm that I return my CBE with immediate effect.
“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 focus on continuing to assist the inquiry and will not make any further public comment until it has concluded.”
Pressure is also mounting on Lib Dem leader Ed Davey, who is a former Post Office minister and has been accused of failing to act when the true scale of the scandal emerged.
He has defended his actions by insisting he was misled at the time by Post Office bosses.
Meanwhile, justice secretary Alex Chalk has said he is giving “active consideration” to introducing a bill to quash the convictions of the sub-postmasters caught up in the scandal.