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POLTD/0506/0685
OFFENCE THEFT/FALSE ACCOUNTING
Name: Josephine Hamilton
Rank: Postmaster Identification 1
Code:
Office: South Warnborough Branch Code 092 904
SPOB
Age: Date of Birth:
Service: 2 years 5 Date Service 21/10/2003
months Commenced:
Personnel Printout: At Appendix: C
Nat Ins No:
Home Address:
Contract for Services 09/03/06 on the authority of Elaine Ridge, Area
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Suspended: Intervention Manager
Tobe prosecuted by: Royal Mail Group (including Post Office Ltd)
Designated Tony Utting, National investigation Manager
Prosecution Authority:
Discipline Manager: _Nigel Allen, Contracts & Service Manager
Nigel Allen
This case relates to a £36,644.89 audit deficit identified at South
Wamborough Sub Post Office Branch (SPOB) on Thursday 09 March
2006.
South Wamborough SPOB is in a semi-rural location and the Post Office
forms part of a general stores and coffee shop. It is a non-residential
office and the Postmistress is Mrs Josephine Hamilton. It is believed that
some of the shop staff also work in the Post Office although at this stage
I have not been able to confirm this.
Ms Rebecca Portch, Retail Cash Management Support contacted South
Wamborough SPOB on Monday 06 March 2006 as the office was
showing high levels of cash holdings. Ms Portch asked Mrs Hamilton to
retum at least £25,000 on Wednesday 08 March 2006.
Mr Geoff Hall, Investigation Team Manager informed me that on Monday
06 March 2006, Mrs Hamilton allegedly told Mrs Kam Matharu, National
Federation of Sub Postmasters (NFSP) that there were some problems
at the Post Office. Mrs Matharu informed Mr Colin Woodbridge, Rural
Support Manager of this, who in tum notified the Area Office and Mr
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Adrian Skinner, Area Performance Manager who requested an audit and
passed on the information to Mr Hail.
I have spoken to Mr Woodbridge, who confirmed that Mrs Matharu
telephoned him to advise that there may be a problem at South
Wamborough SPOB but that she did not specify what sort of problem.
Mrs Hamilton went sick on Tuesday 07 March 2006, allegedly being
signed off from work for four weeks by her doctor.
In view of the concems over Post Office funds I attended South
Wamborough SPOB on Thursday 09 March 2006. Also in attendance
that day was Mr Alan Stuart, Branch Auditor and Ms Elaine Ridge, Area
Intervention Manager. Neither Mrs Hamilton nor any of her staff were
present within the Post Office secure area during the completion of the
audit.
Ms Ridge had obtained the Post Office keys from Mrs Hamilton at her
private residence. At 08.45, Ms Ridge, Mr Stuart and myself gained
access to the secure area. I was present when Mr Stuart opened the
safe and took out the cash. It was clear that the cash on hand was
significantly less than the figure of £37,360.06 showing on the Horizon
system.
Mr Stuart completed a full audit of the cash and stock and identified a
deficit of £36,583.12, which is broken down as follows:
Cash ——--£35,426.58 only £1,933.48 physically on hand.
Stock -£ 1,159.36
Bureau +£2.82
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Mr Stuart also identified an additional £61.77 shortage on Horizon, which
couldn't be accounted for, and thus the figure posted to late accounts
was £36,644.89, this being the loss to Post Office Ltd.
Whilst at South Wamborough SPOB I obtained some Horizon printouts
and accounting documentation, including Cash Account Finals and
Branch Trading Statements.
At 10.50 hrs, together with Ms Ridge, I attended Mrs Hamilton's private
residence; GRO —
introduced myself to Mrs Hamilton and her mother, showing both of
them my identity card. I was present when Ms Ridge precautionary
suspended Mrs Hamilton’s contract for services.
I explained to Mrs Hamilton that the audit had identified a deficit in the
accounts of at least £30,000, although the figure had yet to be finalised. I
explained that I would like to conduct a voluntary interview with her and
explained her legal rights and Post Office Friend rule. I stated that I was
aware that she had been signed off work by her doctor and gave her my
details asking her to contact me to agree a time and venue to conduct
the interview.
I explained to Mrs Hamilton that I wasn't able to discuss anything
relating to the audit deficit until the interview. Mrs Hamilton made no
significant statement at that time. I was at the private residence for ten
minutes, leaving with Ms Ridge at 11.00 hrs. Mrs Hamilton's mother was
present the whole time.
No searches were conducted in respect of this investigation.
Later that day, I sent Mrs Hamilton a letter explaining that I wished to
conduct an interview with her and re-iterating her legal rights and Post
Office Friend rule.
Having analysed the Horizon printouts and accounting documentation I
was unable to find any evidence of theft or that the cash figures had
been deliberately inflated.
A Horizon Event Log Balancing was obtained for the period 26 January
2006 — 09 march 2006. This generally showed one cash declaration
being done each day and didn't show any occasions whereby a genuine
cash figure would be declared followed by an inflated figure.
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A number of envelopes containing weekly accounting documentation
were also obtained. Up until around January 2005 it appeared that each
day's cash holding was manually entered on a sheet of paper. However,
for some reason this appeared to cease after that time, as I have not
found any of these sheets post January 2005.
A number of Cash Account Finals and Branch Trading Statements were
obtained. From these it can be seen that between CAP 36 (w/e
01/12/04) and CAP 01 (w/e 30/03/05) the cash on hand remained fairty
constant, generally fluctuating between £15,000 and £18,000. Between
CAP 02 (w/e 06/04/05) and CAP 14 (w/e 29/06/05) it fluctuates between
£18,000 and £20,000. From CAP 16 (w/e 13/07/05) to BTP 10 (period
ending 08/02/06) it gradually rises from £22,000 to £35,000.
Within the accounting documentation I found some Alliance & Leicester
On-Line Horizon deposit printouts. These deposits are input onto
Horizon by means of a swipe card as opposed to a manual deposit slip. I
printed off an extract of these transactions from the Business Objects
Management Information Database, covering the period 01 February
2006 to 06 March 2006. The deposits were generally made on a daily
basis and for amounts in multiples of fifty pounds.
In my experience it was unusual to see regular deposits, all round
figures, although I now believe that these represent genuine deposits,
possibly the shop takings. Having obtained a further extract from
Business Objects I could see that these deposits stopped on 06 March
2006 and resumed under a different stock unit (SW) on 16 March 2006,
continuing on pretty much a daily basis.
Obviously, Mrs Hamilton hasn't worked in the Post Office since 07 March
2006. I intend to speak to the shop staff at a later stage, and will
hopefully be able to determine what these deposits relate to.
Together with Mr Colin Price, investigation Manager I attended Tanner &
Taylor Solicitors office, 149 Victoria Road, Aldershot at 10.45 hrs on 05
May 2006. We introduced ourselves to Ms Taylor and gave her
disclosure of what I intended putting to Mrs Hamilton. Prior to the
commencement of the interview, Ms Taylor gave me a copy of a
prepared statement, signed by Mrs Hamilton.
The prepared statement stated that Mrs Hamilton began working at
South Wamborough SPOB on 24 December 2001, becoming
postmistress in October 2003.
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The prepared statement seems to intimate that she didn't receive
adequate training at the time and that the manuals were old and out of
date. It also suggests that she didn't receive any training in respect of
other matters.
It also refers to an alleged £1,500 error, which doubled to £3,000 when
attempts were made to correct it and another error of £750. No dates are
supplied in respect of these alleged errors. It also suggests that ‘The
Post Office systems are shambolic’ and details alleged problems
encountered. It states that all staff use the same Horizon user name,
again citing lack of training as the reason for this.
Finally, it states ‘I can say that I have never stolen any money or acted
dishonestly’.
At 12.13 hrs I commenced a tape-recorded interview with Mrs Josephine
Hamilton. Also present was Ms Taylor and Mr Price. The interview was
conducted under caution and in accordance with the Police and Criminal
Evidence Act 1984 Codes of Practice.
The interview comprised of two tapes, reference 042769 and 042770. I
have prepared summaries of these tapes, copies of which are
associated with this report.
From the summaries it can be seen that initially Ms Taylor read out the
prepared statement. Subsequently, Mrs Hamilton gave no comment
tesponses to all questions put to her by Mr Price and myself. It can also
be seen that Mrs Hamilton wasn't prepared to advise me who worked in
the Post Office.
Ms Taylor advised me that Mrs Hamilton was prepared to grant access
to her bank account details. A number of Bank Disclosure Authority
forms were given to Mrs Hamilton after the interview concluded.
During the course of the interview I showed Mrs Hamilton the following
items:
Branch Trading Statement’s Period’s 10 (13/01/06 - 08/02/06) &
11(08/02/06 — 09/03/06)
Cash Account Final's CAP’s 36 (w/e 01/12/04), 10 (w/e 01/06/05), 24
(wie 07/09/05) &
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28 (wie 05/10/05).
Business Objects extract detailing Alliance & Leicester On-Line cash
deposits.
The interview was concluded at 13.32 hours.
Following the interview, I asked Mrs Hamilton a number of questions for
the sole purpose of completing NPA 01 and CS033 (Antecedents) forms.
Mrs Hamilton stated that she co-owned her house with her husband and
parents. She stated that it was worth approx £420,000 and they were
paying off a mortgage of £230,000.
As stated above, Mrs Hamilton is married and lives in the same house
as her husband and parents. She has two sons aged 24 and 22, neither
of whom live at home. Mrs Hamilton advised me that she rents the
shop/Post Office property, however her solicitor advised her not to
answer any questions relating to the finances of it. Mrs Hamilton did
advise me that together with her husband, they contribute £600 a month
towards the mortgage on their house and the Post Office remuneration
is in the region of £500 a month.
I am unable to state what would appear to be the period of offending,
mainly due to the fact that Mrs Hamilton responded no comment to my
questions.
The evidence so far is simply the fact that the audit identified the money
as missing. Concems only came to light following a request to retum
excess cash and instead of doing so Mrs Hamilton was signed off as
sick. Additionally, Mrs Hamilton has only supplied a prepared statement
as some form of explanation, yet refused to answer any questions.
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I do not envisage any problems regarding obtaining statements in
fespect of this case and at this stage I have no reason to express any
concems over the reliability of any potential witness.
I requested Horizon data in respect of this case covering the period 09
February 2006 - 08 March 2006. This wasn't received until after I had
interviewed Mrs Hamilton. I have now had chance to view the data but
have not identified any further evidence at this stage. All entries are
against the user name JHAOO1.
In view of the fact that the prepared statement suggested that numerous
problems had occurred at South Wamborough SPOB I requested and
subsequently received details of calls made to both the Network
Business Support Centre (NBSC) and the Horizon Support Helpdesk
(HSH). From the NBSC Log I could see that numerous calls were made
requesting advice on a number of subjects. It also details a number of
losses reported, details as follows:
03/12/03 £2,082.00
30/12/03 £2,000.00
02/01/04 £4,188.53
03/02/04 £3,191.00
24/02/05 £ 750.00
05/01/06 £1,000.00
I explained to Ms Taylor that the Post Office would be looking to recover
the funds owing from Mrs Hamilton and that any payments would be
accepted without prejudice. To date, no monies have been repaid in
respect of this case and thus the loss to Post Office Ltd remains at
£36,644.89.
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I am waiting for the completed Bank Authority Disclosure forms to be
retumed to me. Other than that and the fact that the entire loss to Post
Office Itd of £36,644 89 is still outstanding there are no further
accounting aspects to deal with. I have advised Mr Mick Matthews,
Accredited Financial Investigator of this case.
During the course of this investigation the following failings were
identified:
1) It was identified that this office had been holding approx
£25,000 more that its ONCH target but excessive cash
holdings appear to have gone unnoticed for some time.
2) In Mrs Hamilton’s prepared statement it states that all staff
used the same Horizon user name.
3) The prepared statement suggests that Mrs Hamilton didn’t
comply with all the training aids sent to her.
The case papers have been forwarded to the Criminal Law Team for
advice on the sufficiency of the evidence as to whether criminal charges
are brought against Mrs Hamilton.
Please feel free to contact me should you require any further information
or clarification on any of the points raised in this report.
17 May 2006