sudo apt-get remove --purge dovecot*
[sudo] password for jeeves:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Note, selecting dovecot-dev for regex 'dovecot*'
Note, selecting dovecot-imapd for regex 'dovecot*'
Note, selecting dovecot-pop3d for regex 'dovecot*'
Note, selecting dovecot for regex 'dovecot*'
Note, selecting dovecot-common for regex 'dovecot*'
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  intltool-debian po-debconf gettext expect tcl8.4
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  dovecot-common* dovecot-imapd* dovecot-pop3d*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 3 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
3 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 5849kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
(Reading database ... 70906 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing dovecot-pop3d ...
invoke-rc.d: initscript dovecot, action "stop" failed.
dpkg: error processing dovecot-pop3d (--purge):
 subprocess pre-removal script returned error exit status 1
invoke-rc.d: initscript dovecot, action "restart" failed.
dpkg: error while cleaning up:
 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Removing dovecot-imapd ...
invoke-rc.d: initscript dovecot, action "stop" failed.
dpkg: error processing dovecot-imapd (--purge):
 subprocess pre-removal script returned error exit status 1
Removing dovecot-common ...
invoke-rc.d: initscript dovecot, action "stop" failed.
dpkg: error processing dovecot-common (--purge):
 subprocess pre-removal script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 dovecot-pop3d
 dovecot-imapd
 dovecot-common
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)