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Jo Hamilton
Dec 2001 — started at South Warnborough Post Office under Alwyn Stacy
2003 — Alwyn Stacy; ¢
October 2003 — Jo became Subpostmaster
6 March 2006 — conversation between PO and Jo regarding high levels of cash-on-hand at Sth
Warnborough. Jo asked to return at least £27,000 case as it was deemed surplus to running of the
branch.
7 March 2006 — Jo reported
9 March 2006 — Post Office (PO) audited branch following Audit revealed cash and stock shortage of
£36,644.89. Jo suspended. PO security investigation undertaken — in her statement to investigators,
Jo said all staff used same login for Horizon, a breach of PO procedure. PO sought to prosecute Jo for
theft and false accounting.
19 November 2007 — Jo pleaded guilty to false accounting charges at Winchester Crown Court. Theft
charge was removed after she promised to pay PO back.
18 February 2008 — Jo pays PO back in full, plus £1000 costs awarded against her.
Investigation
* No evidence which supports Jo’s claim that Horizon caused shortfalls in the branch.
* PO believes that the most likely cause of the shortfall was a series of operational errors by Jo
and/or her staff over a period of time (e.g. mishandling of cash, keying transactions into
Horizon incorrectly, cheque remittance errors, etc.).
© PO investigation in May 2006 indicates that inflated cash declarations has been going on for
some time — possibly 2 years
© PO helpline for staff —Jo knew of its existence and could have asked for support but
available records do not show that she did so.
* Allthis was compounded by Jo submitting false accounts. This means that it wasn’t then and
isn’t now possible to identify all the erroneous transactions which caused the £36k shortfall.
What Jo says
¢ Minimal training, including no training on how to handle transaction corrections
© PO does not hold any training records
¢ Lack of support from PO helpdesk, specifically between Dec 2003 and March 2006 (Jo’s
employment period following death of her predecessor)
o No evidence to suggest that Jo couldn’t contact helpline; in fact, she did contact it on
many occasions
¢ No ability within procedures / systems to put issues on hold and investigate further
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e Unexplained errors —Jo has submitted two specific errors (to do with a TV license
transaction) which shows there are flaws in Horizon
© No data held as far back as this by PO