POL00091109 - Post Office Investigation - Theft & False Accounting, Miss Alison Loraine Hall, Hightown branch

Evidence on official site

POL00091109
POL00091109

POST OFFICE LTD CONFIDENTIAL: INVESTIGATION, PERSONNEL

POLTD/1011/0095

Theft & False Accounting

Name: Miss Alison Loraine HALL
Rank: Postmaster Identification 1
Code:
Office: Hightown SPSO Branch Code 512 323
Age: Date of Birth: L “GRO
Service: Date Service February 2005
months Commenced:
Personnel Printout: At Appendix: C

Nat Ins No:

Home Address:

Contract for Services 3rd September 2010 Mrs Karen Arnold
Suspended:

To be prosecuted by: Royal Mail Group (including Post Office
Ltd)

Designated Mr Iain Murphy, Fraud Strand Leader

Prosecution

Authority:

Contracts Manager

The circumstances surrounding the suspension and _ subsequent
interview of Miss Alison Hall are briefly as follows;

On 2:4 September 2010 Ms Tracey Bedford, Migration Support Officer
attended Hightown Post Office® prior to the branch being migrated
to Horizon Online (HOL). When she counted the cash on hand against
the Horizon Cash Declaration a shortage of £13,624.41 was
discovered. The branch was closed and a full audit took place the
following day, 3°4¢ September, conducted by Mr Jeff Roper and Mr
Richard Goss.

Hightown Post Office® branch is situated on the Halifax Road
(A649). The premises consist of the Post Office® branch, Newsagent
and small off licence. This building is attached the main house
which stands behind.

On Friday 17tt September I wrote to Miss Hall and invited her to an

interview and gave her details of her legal rights. The next day
she telephoned me and I explained further the nature of the

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POST OFFICE LTD CONFIDENTIAL: INVESTIGATION, PERSONNEL

interview. She seemed a little confused but she said wished to
have a Solicitor present. I advised her to speak to a Criminal Law
Solicitor and we could arrange a time and location for the
interview.

On Friday 24 September Mr Paul Normandale, Solicitor with Inesons
of Cleckheaton telephoned me while Miss Hall was with him. We
agreed to conduct the interview at his office.

On Tuesday 28 September in the company of Mr Paul Whitaker I
attended the offices of Inesons Solicitors in Cleckheaton. At
11:37hrs a tape recorded interview with Miss Hall commenced. Mr
Normandale was also present.

At the start of the interview Miss Hall said that she believed the
shortage was due to problems with the Lottery Scratch cards. She
went on to say that on a number of occasions she had to alter the
stock shown on Horizon to match what was physically in the branch
as there was a discrepancy. This would cause a shortage in the
cash and this carried on. She added that these alterations were
made because of the Transaction Correction (TCs) she was
receiving.

She remained adamant throughout the interview that the problem was
with the Lottery Scratchcards but she admitted that she had not
managed the situation well as she had left it to build up hoping
to be able to sort out the problem.

Miss Hall said that she had out in £640 of cash to cover a
shortage, but when asked could not recall when that had occurred.
She offered to look at her bank details to find the date. (18:30

Miss Hall said she could not balance the Branch account in January
2010 but could recall how much by.

Miss admitted that since January 2010 she has been Falsifying the
Branch trading statement by increasing the Cash On Hand figure to
achieve a balance. When asked she agreed that she had gained an
advantage of remaining in employment during this period when if
she had raise the matter she may have reasonably expected to be
suspended and be in the same position she is now.

Miss Hall was informed that she may have rendered herself liable
to prosecution. When asked if she anything further to say she said
she was sorry for the all the mess she had caused herself and Post
Office Ltd and should have asked for help sooner.

The interview concluded at 12:37hrs.

A Summary of the interview has been compiled.

I have spoken in depth to Mr Neil Thorneycroft the Lottery /

Scratchcard Manager in the P&BA Section in Chesterfield. He
explained the process for Lottery Scratchcards;

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POL00091109
POL00091109

POST OFFICE LTD CONFIDENTIAL: INVESTIGATION, PERSONNEL

Vv

Cards received from Camelot are initially scanned to inform
Camelot they have been received.
Cards then need for sale are scanned and the £s value is
entered on to the Horizon system manually.
> At the end of each day the Lottery terminal will give details
of Sales and prizes. These figures are manually input in to
the Horizon system. At this point the cash must be physically
added to the Post Office® till. In essence this is a cash
deposit in to the account.
Any TC received would only affect the Scratchcard stock and not
the cash on hand figure.
If Miss Hall made manual alterations to the stock on hand this
would affect the cash on hand figure. But both TCs and stock
alterations do not total anywhere near the £15k loss.

Vv

On 13% October 2010 I attended the home address of Miss Kimberley
Langley, .Counter. Clerk at Hightown Post Office® Branch. Miss
Langley GRO has worked at the branch for approximately
four years. She works Monday and Tuesday 09:00 to 17:30hrs and
Thursday 12:00 to 17:00hrs.

She said she was not aware of any Lottery issues until recently.
While Miss Hall was on holiday during the first two weeks of
August 2010 she ran the branch. When she produced the Cash
Declaration at the end of each day she was told to add in a
specific figure by Miss Hall.

I also went to see Mrs Marjorie Higgins
clerk. She only worked on Tuesdays and only
a she ha

i} the other
e desperate

Both clerks were registered correctly with Post Office Ltd and
were the only ones registered.

The Helpdesk (NBSC) have confirmed that there were no telephone
calls received from Hightown SPSO between 1®* January 2010 and 3*4
September 2010.

Miss Hall I GRO “land their

The current loss to Post Office Ltd remains the initial loss at
the time of the Audit of £14,775.76

These papers have been submitted to the Criminal Law Team for
advice on possible criminal charges. A decision to prosecute will
then be taken. If the criminal case is to progress it can only do
so where a Postmaster has been dismissed.

Therefore could you inform me of the outcome of the conduct case
against Miss Hall.

Christopher G Knight
Fraud Investigator
18 October 2010

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