Former sub-postmaster prosecuted for false accounting vows

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Former sub-postmaster prosecuted for false accounting vows to continue the fight for justice

http://www.basingstokegazette.co.uk/new ... r_justice/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A FORMER sub-postmaster, who was prosecuted for false accounting, has vowed to keep fighting after a group of MPs criticised the Post Office for the way it has handled cases involving her and other alleged victims of a miscarriage of justice.

As previously reported in The Gazette, Jo Hamilton, who ran the sub-post office in South Warnborough, was among 150 sub-postmasters to have their contracts terminated by the Post Office over accusations of false accounting.

The mother-of-two hit the headlines in 2008 when she admitted 14 counts of false accounting relating to the disappearance of £36,500 from South Warnborough’s sub-post office. She was sentenced to a community order, with a 12-month supervision requirement.

The group of sub-postmasters also included David Bristow, who ran the former branch in Odiham High Street.

He was asked to pay back £42,000 to the Post Office and also had his contract terminated.

James Arbuthnot, MP for North East Hampshire, took up their cases and asked for an external review of the Horizon computer accounting system which the Post Office requires sub-postmasters to use. Sub-postmasters believe that the computer system was responsible for the loss of money.

Mrs Hamilton has always maintained that she did not take the money, and that it was due to glitches with the Post Office’s computer accounting system.

She told The Gazette: “It’s not money that was ever there in the first place. The bottom line grew and grew and every time I flagged it up, the Post Office took it from my wages. When it jumped up to £9,000, I didn’t say anything and it got bigger and bigger and when I did mention it, they charged me with theft.”

The 58-year-old agreed to plead guilty to the false accounting charges, and remortgaged her home to pay back the money, so the Post Office would drop the theft charge and she would not go to prison.

Following complaints brought to over 140 MPs by sub-postmasters in their constituencies, the group of MPs persuaded the Post Office to review these cases.

The Post Office appointed independent forensic accountants, Second Sight, to conduct investigations within the boundaries of a mediation scheme last year.


But this week, Mr Arbuthnot announced that he and others campaigning for justice for the sub-postmasters have lost faith in this scheme.

Mr Arbuthnot, who has led the group of over 140 MPs, said: “The scheme was set up to help our constituents seek redress and to maintain the Post Office’s good reputation. It is doing neither.

“It has ended up mired in legal wrangling, with the Post Office objecting to most of the cases even going into the mediation that the scheme was designed to provide.

“I can no longer give it my support. I shall now be pursuing justice for sub-postmasters in other ways.”

Mrs Hamilton, who now cares for her elderly parents, said: “It turns out they weren’t going to mediate with anyone who has pleaded guilty to a criminal charge. They never were. They spent all this public money to just pay lip service to James Arbuthnot.”

Mr Arbuthnot’s comments came following a meeting with Paula Vennells, chief executive of Post Office Ltd, after which she wrote a letter setting out the Post Office’s position.

Mr Arbuthnot responded on behalf of the MPs, accusing the Post Office of rejecting 90 per cent of the applications for mediation. He also said the process was “drawn out” which “creates obvious difficulties for those who, for example, are having their house repossessed.”

However, a statement from the Post Office said the MPs’ letter was “regrettable and surprising”. It added: “We take these issues very seriously and have done since setting up a review more than two years ago.

“We are paying for the small number of postmasters who have raised issues to get independent advice and have opened up a mediation scheme.”

Mrs Hamilton said: “The fight goes on. We have got nothing to lose, because we have already lost it all. We will keep going until we get justice.”

[subbie]

You can only be guilty of false accounting if you have gained an advantage from producing the false account. It has never been proved by the Post Office that these people actually gained an advantage, these discrepancies are just notional figures its not real cash.

This is a miss carriage of justice and a retrial or a pardon should be granted, then we would get to the truth.

Subbie

[NWpostie]

If this gets out, even less people would be willing to be Sub Postmasters, I know I wouldn't.