Postmistress wrongly convicted of theft in Horizon scandal star of ITV
A postmistress who was backed by her village when wrongly convicted of theft within the Post Office Horizon scandal has mentioned ex-CEO Paula Vennells ought to return her CBE.
Jo Hamilton, 66, was falsely accused of stealing £36,000 from a village store in South Warnborough, Hampshire, and ultimately pleaded responsible to false accounting in worry of going to jail.
The mother-of-two and her husband had been compelled to remortgage their home twice, borrow cash from pals and take £6,000 in donations from the village as a way to pay again what was misplaced. Mrs Hamilton additionally took up a job cleansing individuals’s homes in a determined bid to remain afloat.
Her conviction was quashed in 2021 when she was discovered to be a sufferer of the Post Office Horizon scandal, the place a defective accounting system led to greater than 700 sub-postmasters being prosecuted.
Vennells, who was a parish priest earlier than the scandal and served as chief government officer of the Post Office from 2012 to 2019, has confronted renewed calls this week to be stripped of her CBE.
Vennells left the Post Office with a CBE for providers to the organisation in addition to to charity – and a £389,000 bonus.
‘If she’s received any ethical compass in any respect, she ought to give it again,’ Mrs Hamilton instructed The Times. ‘I might give it again earlier than it was taken off me.
‘But regardless of being a vicar, she would not appear to have any ethical code.’
Jo Hamilton, 66, was falsely accused of stealing £36,000 from a village store in South Warnborough, Hampshire, and ultimately pleaded responsible to false accounting in worry of going to jail
Her nightmare began when the Horizon system began exhibiting shortfalls in her accounts in 2003 – at one stage exhibiting the quantity double earlier than her eyes
Paula Vennells (pictured), the previous CEO, who’s an ordained priest and married mom of two, left the Post Office with a CBE for providers to the organisation in addition to to charity
Mrs Hamilton purchased the village store in 2001 and have become the sub-postmaster two years later
The submit workplace carried out about 900 prosecutions between 2000 and 2015, securing 700 convictions for offences together with theft and fraud and sending 236 victims to jail.
An additional 2,800 managed to flee prosecution however had been requested to pay a reimbursement. Four individuals dedicated suicide over the scandal whereas others died earlier than their convictions could possibly be reversed.
‘They’ve made individuals’s lives a distress and so they’ve dedicated crimes. It’s not simply a pc drawback. This is absolute corruption at its worst; state-sponsored corruption,’ Mrs Hamilton mentioned.
The mom purchased the village store in 2001 and have become the sub-postmaster two years later.
Her nightmare began when the Horizon system began exhibiting shortfalls in her accounts in 2003 – at one stage exhibiting the quantity double earlier than her eyes.
Assuming it was her fault, Mrs Hamilton didn’t inform her husband what was taking place to her for months.
‘I all the time thought what it mentioned have to be proper as a result of it is a pc and I’m a dumb-dumb,’ she mentioned.
The monetary nightmare stored getting worse, inflicting Mrs Hamilton to undergo from pains in her arm and chest
Mrs Hamilton is one the celebs of a brand new ITV drama concerning the Post Office Horizon scandal referred to as Mr Bates vs The Post Office. Pictured: Mrs Hamilton performed by actor Monica Dolan
‘I by no means gave it a minute’s thought that the Post Office would do this to me. And then you definitely ring up the helpdesk and so they say: ”Well, you’re the just one that is had issues with it.”
‘I did not wish to let anybody down and I genuinely thought all this cash would come again.’
When the cash didn’t return, Mrs Hamilton was compelled to inform her husband and so they remortgaged their home, borrowed from pals and maxed out bank cards to repay what was lacking.
The monetary nightmare stored getting worse, inflicting Mrs Hamilton to undergo from pains in her arm and chest. She was ultimately sacked by the Post Office and charged with stealing £36,000.
It emerged years later that the Post Office’s personal investigator had discovered no proof of theft.
‘It’s perverting the course of justice. It’s my inside rage that is stored me sane: They usually are not going to get away with this,’ she mentioned.
The sufferer had agreed to plead responsible to a smaller cost of false accounting in 2008, avoiding jail. Under this deal she nonetheless needed to pay again the supposedly lacking £36,000.
Mrs Hamilton was compelled to remortgage once more and the village donated £6,000 to her trigger.
‘I would not be the place I’m had I not had the love of the neighborhood,’ she mentioned.
Former submit workplace staff celebrating exterior the Royal Courts of Justice after their convictions had been overturned by the Court of Appeal in April 2021
Former postmaster Alan Bates, who’s portrayed by Toby Jones within the new drama, led and gained the preliminary authorized battle after himself falling sufferer to the faults
Mrs Hamilton began a brand new job cleansing individuals’s homes and have become the faces of a marketing campaign by Alan Bates, a sub-postmaster from north Wales.
The characters of Mrs Hamilton and Mr Bates each star in a brand new ITV drama titled Mr Bates vs The Post Office.
Mr Bates referred to as Mrs Hamilton at some point to inform her concerning the suicide of Martin Griffiths, who was wrongly blamed for a ‘lacking’ £100,000.
‘I can see precisely why he felt like he did,’ mentioned Mrs Hamilton.
Her dad and mom each had strokes whereas she was nonetheless preventing to clear her identify, earlier than they died of most cancers.
One of her two grown-up sons, a police officer, for years needed to declare his mom’s conviction at any time when he modified jobs.
Mrs Hamilton, who has three grandchildren, was as soon as requested to depart her granddaughter’s faculty whereas making Easter bonnets as a result of she couldn’t be left alone with the youngsters due to her conviction.
The mom, who was a beloved and trusted member of her neighborhood, mentioned: ‘I would not be the place I’m had I not had the love of my neighborhood.’
The Post Office reached a £58 million settlement with 555 sub-postmasters
Mr Bates vs the Post Office is on ITV1/ITVX.
