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A Guernsey charity stalwart has returned her MBE in protest against the former head of the Post Office being recognised with the royal honour, despite the scandal surrounding the organisation.
Hundreds of sub-postmasters were wrongly convicted between 1999 and 2015 due to evidence from faulty IT software.
Their case is in the spotlight following the ITV drama 'Mr Bates vs the Post Office' which aired on 1 January 2024.
Former Post Office CEO, Paula Vennells – who is portrayed in the ITV drama – announced earlier this week that she will return her CBE after more than a million people signed a petition calling for it to be stripped from her.
However, that came too late for long-time Guernsey resident Sarah Griffith who had already decided to post her MBE back to the honours committee, along with a letter addressed to King Charles III explaining her reasons for doing so.
Ms Griffith had been awarded the MBE in 2013 for her services to charity.
Pictured: Sarah Griffith and fellow assisted dying campaigner, Doug Wilson, in 2018.
Initially her charity work focused on countries affected by natural disasters with her setting up Bridge 2 Sri Lanka in 2005 and then Bridge 2 Haiti in 2010 to help people affected by a tsunami and earthquakes in those countries.
At the time Ms Griffith was awarded her MBE, the BBC reported that "she continues to raise funds for people who are in need, including those affected by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, where she has sent more than 150 shelter boxes".
Ms Griffith's charitable work has also included supporting refugees at camps in Greece and France, along with campaigning to change the abortion law in Guernsey in the 1990s and in support of efforts to legalise assisted dying in the last decade.
Ms Griffith's decision to return her MBE was shared with her family, who she says are in full support.
She shared a public post on Facebook with a copy of the letter she addressed to Sir Chris Wormald who sits on the committee overseeing the Honours system.
Ms Griffith wrote to tell him that she is disillusioned with the honours system and that she no longer wishes to be a part of it.
This is not just related to the Post Office scandal but also to the way the system allowed Liz Truss to award honours after just 49 days as Prime Minister.
"When I was awarded the MBE back in 2014, I felt very humbled to have been nominated by people in my community for this award and it is not lost on me why and how the whole system should work," she wrote.
Ms Griffith's decision to return her MBE was supported by a letter to the King explaining her motives.
This action has been widely supported in Guernsey, with many people commenting on Ms Griffith's social media post to say "good on you" or "well done".
Others exclaimed how Ms Griffith is "thoroughly deserving" of her MBE – with some saying they are saddened that she has felt the need to return it, despite supporting her decision to do so.
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