Guernsey charity worker returns MBE by post in 'furious' reaction to Horizon IT scandal

• Sarah Griffith tells ITV News why she handed back her MBE

A humanitarian aid worker has returned her MBE by post after being enraged by the Horizon IT scandal following an ITV drama.

Sarah Griffith was presented with the honour by Prince William in 2014 for 16 years of service in charge of a Guernsey charity which helped with relief work in disaster zones across the globe.

Ms Griffith, who now lives in Wales, decided to give up the accolade in protest at the treatment of hundreds of UK sub-postmasters who were wrongly accused or convicted of fraud after a problem with the company's IT programme, Horizon.

The Post Office's former boss Paula Vennells was given a CBE in 2019 for "services to the Post Office and charity".

However, a recent ITV drama reignited calls for accountability with more than 1 million people signing a petition calling for Ms Vennells to be stripped of her honour.

Ms Griffith said: "I watched the first episode and cried, the next one made me angry, the third episode made me furious and by the fourth I was apoplectic."

Ms Vennells has now said she will return the accolade voluntarily and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced a new law will be introduced so people wrongly convicted are "swiftly exonerated and compensated".

Ms Griffith says she is still happy with her decision to return the MBE and believes "the whole honours system is archaic and outdated".

She added: "My MBE is totally irrelevant. At the time it was given to me with all the best will in the world, I was humbled by it and appreciated it greatly but given what's happened in the last few years, it just rubs salt in the wounds."