WITN00400100 Josephine Hamilton - Witness Statement

Evidence on official site

WITNESS: JOSEPHINE HAMILTON
STATEMENT NUMBER: WITNO040_01
EXHIBITS: 0

DATED: Jan 13, 2022

POST OFFICE HORIZON IT INQUIRY

FIRST WRITTEN STATEMENT OF JOSEPHINE HAMILTON

THIS STATEMENT IS PROVIDED IN RESPONSE TO THE RULE 9 REQUEST OF

THE PUBLIC INQUIRY DATED 29/10/2021 TO ADDRESS THE HUMAN IMPACT OF

THE FAILINGS OF THE HORIZON IT SYSTEM

I, MRS JOSEPHINE HAMILTON, Date of Birth

PERSONAL BACKGROUND

1. My date of birth is I

i. I am 64 years old and grew up in Fleet,

Hampshire (between the ages of 7- 19) with my 2 younger brothers and both
parents. Growing up, my father was in the RAF. He held the position of Flight
Lieutenant. He was well respected and a lovely man.

2. I left school during my A ‘Levels and started working in army personnel research

whilst obtaining an ONC in science. M

and I met when I was 17 years old

and married when I was 19.

Page 1 of 21
. I live with my husban oand a freelance gardener and has been

since 2002. I currently work as a domestic cleaner and dog walker five days a
week, obtaining work through word of mouth. It keeps me ticking over with an
income. We have always both worked.

. We live with two dogs, and I also have a horse. I spend a great deal of my free
time looking after my horse as well as the neighbour’s horses in return for free

grazing. Sadly, I can no longer ride my horse, as he has arthritis in his feet. I go

walking and keep myself fit with online pilates.

Birmingham with my other grandchild, and he is a Detective for West Midlands

Police.

jand I moved in with my parents to save a house deposit.

. Around 1980, I

Unfortunately, during this time my grandparents were no longer able to look

after themselves. My Nan had !

and my Granddad had

} he could no longer care for her. The family decided to come together

to jointly look after them. We pooled our resources and moved into a bigger
property all together. I was very close to my Nan and wanted to help my mum
look after her. It worked really well. We ended up with 4 generations in the
house as I was nursing my Nan through my pregnancies. We were a very close
family and would do anything for one another. Unfortunately, both of my parents
have now passed away. I was very close to them, and I miss their presence
every day. Over the years they provided a phenomenal amount of financial and

emotional support.

Page 2 of 21
and I see the grandchildren as much as we can but live a simple life. I
can’t recall the last time we had a holiday; this was longer than 30 years ago

when the children were small.

POST OFFICE HISTORY

8. Prior to taking up employment with the Post Office, I had worked in various jobs.
I had been a care assistant and ran a public house. I qualified with a HGV
licence in 1985. After this, I ran a haulage business with my husband. I drove a
tipper for 12 years and then undertook general long-distance haulage for 8
years. Sadly, due to various reasons this business took a turn for the worst and
it was then that we both needed a change of employment. I had some
experience of the service sector as I had run a public house in the past and I
had always been involved in my local community and knew other members of
the community well.

9. Some members of the local community in South Warnborough asked me to run
the village shop. The shop was a co-operative run by the local community. The
local community was concerned that if the village shop closed, then the Post
Office would also close. The Post Office was situated within the shop.

10.At the time I did not have the money to purchase the shop, someone in the local

community group lent me the sum of £5,000 and the Sub-Postmaster of the

the shop’s stock. In October 2001, I took over the shop on a 40-year lease at a
price of £36,000. I did not have the capital to pay this upfront and I was paying

this as we went along. I expected to clear the full sum eventually.

Page 3 of 21
11.The Shop was a general store which sold food, drink and other household
items, but mainly newspapers to order. Eventually, I opened a delicatessen
which led to builders asking for baguettes to be made, from there I made
takeaway rolls and eventually bought a coffee machine. I had to take on a part

time staff member to help out.

12; GRO carried on as Sub-Postmaster of the Post Office (in name only) with a

135,
became the Sub-Postmistress. I continued to also run the shop and the
delicatessen. By this time the café was starting to take shape and I had around
3 tables which I also serviced.

14.I was not aware of any issues at the Post Office when I took it over. There had

been a shortfall in the sum of £270 at some point before the final/closing audit,

this was when‘

as running things. I know that {GRO} had paid this

discrepancy.

15.1 only became aware of others having the same problem when people started
ringing me, because of media coverage in February 2008 onwards. It wasn’t
until late 2009 when a group of us came together, that I realised the extent of
what was going on. I had always been told by the Post Office I was the only

person that had problems with Horizon.

CRIMINAL ALLEGATIONS AND ANY PROCEEDINGS/CONVICTION

16.1 had never had any experience of running a Post Office before.

Page 4 of 21
17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

I received 4 half days on site training in 2001, before chip and pin had been
rolled out and everything went electronic.

Between 25 December 2001 and 1 January 2002, I was visited by a Trainer
from the Post Office. There were very few customers in the Post Office over
this time and so the Trainer gave me limited training. For example, I never
carried out a balance check.

Around the time when I became Sub-Postmistress, a chip and pin machine was
installed, and this is when I started to experience significant unexplained
shortfalls. I had no paper records of transactions. The first discrepancy occurred
on 2 December 2003, when a shortfall showed up in the sum of £2,082 which
the Post Office had put into the suspense account.

On 24 December 2003, I called the Helpline to ask them how to take this
amount out of the suspense account. I was given instructions by the Helpline
which increased the shortfall to £4,188.53 and I told them that I was very
concerned about this and asked to speak to the Area Manager who was called
Colin Woodbridge.

On 30 December 2003, the cash balance had reduced considerably, the stamp
total had reduced by 46p and three £5 Commemorative Coins had been
excluded. I do not know how these reductions occurred as I had not amended
them.

I paid various discrepancies as explained below.

A Fujitsu engineer replaced the base of the Horizon unit at least three times as
they said the system was not sending them the correct information. I didn’t ever
think to question this. In hindsight I should have taken this further given the

problems that I was experiencing.

Page 5 of 21
24.At the beginning of 2006, I was getting very worried and stressed about the
continuous shortfalls and discrepancies on Horizon. I could no longer afford to
pay for any more shortfalls. I began to feel like I was going mad and that it was
entirely my fault.

25. The Post Office then told me that they were concerned by the large amount of
cash I was holding on the premises. They asked me to return £25,000 which of
course I didn’t have, but for some reason the account was showing. I remember
at this point speaking and crying with a friend, the situation had become
unmanageable and she told me that I needed to get out.

26.I contacted the union. The situation had become unbearable, so in March 2006,
my National Federation of Sub-Postmaster’s representative told me she would
request an audit, at this time she also told me to instruct a criminal lawyer. She
also told me to go to the GP.

27.My GP had signed me off work for a month, as I was so stressed and worried
with depression, this was all from the situation with the shortfalls. I couldn’t
afford to take a month off work, so I continued anyway.

28.After the audit was completed, two Investigators came to my house. I believe
the investigators were called Graham Brander and Elaine Ridge. They told me
that there was a large cash discrepancy and requested an explanation. I was
not able to give one and explained that I had experienced a huge number of
problems with Horizon and with balancing the account. I told them that I could
not understand the system. They told me that I was the only person who had
experienced problems with Horizon.

29.1 believe at this point I was suspended (9 March 2006), the investigators also

started looking around the room as if to value my items. It was horrible. They

Page 6 of 21
only stopped looking because my mum told them the house belonged to her

and they weren't entitled to anything.

30. After the auditor and investigators left, I went into the shop and found that they

31.

had taken pretty much everything from the Post Office. Including all of the
paperwork. They had left £500 worth of vehicle tax stamps on the side of the
counter and a pile of commemorative stamps. I am not sure whether these
amounts were taken into account with the audit or not.

The Post Office arranged for someone else to take over the running of my Post

Office on the Monday following the audit. This was! GRO; he ran the

Post Office under his Hook PO title. He had the keys, and I wasn’t allowed to
go into the Post Office. He then paid rent of £2 per week. He then changed it

into an outreach.

32. Amonth after the audit, on 12 April 2006, I received a letter from the Post Office

inviting me to an interview. I attended an interview with the Post Office’s
investigators on 5 May 2006. I was lucky in that I had instructed a criminal
solicitor by then. The investigators were very intimidating and cautioned me
before the interview. I presented the investigators with a statement which I had
prepared for the interview and upon the advice of my solicitor, responded “no
comment’ to every question put to me. I remember being very scared and angry

at the same time.

33.On 23 May 2006, I received a letter from the Post Office stating that it was

considering terminating my contract.

34.On 6 June 2006, I received another letter from the Post Office stating that the

audit revealed a shortfall in the sum of £36,644.89. No breakdown was given

for this amount.

Page 7 of 21
35.

36.

37.

38.

39.

40.

41.

42.

On 16 June 2006, my contract with the Post Office was terminated.

Following the termination of my contract, I received a summons for a single
count of theft and was charged by the Post Office with theft of £36,644.89.

I attended Aldershot Magistrates Court on a few occasions, the first I believe
was on 6 December 2006. I pleaded not guilty to the charge.

My case was transferred to Winchester Crown Court and I attended on 3
occasions: 12 March 2007, 19 November 2007 and I was sentenced on 4
February 2008.

In November 2007, my Criminal Solicitor advised me that the prosecution had
offered a plea bargain on the basis that if I pleaded guilty to 14 counts of false
accounting and agreed to repay the shortfall in full then they would drop the
theft charge. My Solicitor advised me that this was a good deal and would
probably avoid me going to prison, however, there was no guarantee of that.

I was not allowed to mention problems with Horizon in mitigation.

On the advice of my Solicitor, I pleaded guilty to 14 counts of false accounting,
agreed to repay the shortfall and also agreed that I wasn’t to mention Horizon
and the issues that I had there. However, I still knew that I had not done
anything wrong and hoped that the Post Office would find the shortfall. I now
have a document that says that there was no evidence of theft or deliberate
cash inflated figures. They would have had this document at the time, they just
chose not to disclose this. This in particular makes me so angry.

On the day of the sentencing on 4 February 2008, I was still not sure if I was
going to go to prison or not. I remember saying farewells to my family and
friends before I left for court. I packed a bag of clothes just in case I was sent

to prison. I remember taking 14 pairs of underwear because I had been told by

Page 8 of 21
a probation officer that there was a 75% chance of going to prison and I would
not be allowed any visitors for the first 14 days. It was a very stressful, worrying
and upsetting time. I raised £30,000 by way of re-mortgage, the rest was raised
through the village and having their support. This was raised through whip
rounds and people’s generosity. I had a massive amount of support in the court,
there were over 74 people from the village that came to court, including the
vicar.

43.1 was sentenced to a Supervision Order for 12 months. This involved me having
to attend a weekly meeting with a Probation Officer in Farnborough. This
arrangement changed to a fortnightly meeting and then to a monthly meeting.
By about 7 months after the sentencing hearing, I was told that I would no longer
need to attend the meeting due to good behaviour.

44.1 also had to pay court costs in the sum of £1,000.

45. My conviction was overturned on 23 April 2021 in the Court of Appeal.

THE HUMAN IMPACT
46.The human impact which the failings of the Horizon IT System have had and
continue to have upon me and my family are set out in the remainder of this

statement. The section headings follow the particular questions posed by the

Inquiry.

WHAT WERE THE CONSEQUENCES OF BEING REQUIRED TO MAKE GOOD
APPARENT SHORTFALLS SHOWN BY THE HORIZON IT SYSTEM?
47.I was expected to repay monies. Initial errors before my conviction were

deducted from my salary or re-paid through re-mortgaging and borrowing

Page 9 of 21
money from friends. I wasn’t given a choice here. I couldn't mention the re-
mortgaging to them at this time.

48.The further costs associated with the conviction were at a completely different
level. The post office was repaid £50,644.89 in total. I am still paying for these
consequences now.

49. After my conviction to pay off the shortfall and our debts, my husband, my mum
and dad and I sold a piece of our garden to a developer. We had planned to
build on this part of the garden, as it already had an existing garage.

50.We successfully obtained planning permission and sold the piece of garden to

a developer’, for £127,000. Our garden was quite big
being over a quarter of an acre.

51. This was a significant loss to us in having to sell this plot of land when we did.
We just needed to raise cash quickly and have absolutely lost out in the long

term. I did not have a private pension and this in effect was our pension plan.

‘and I had planned to build a property on the land when I retired and move

£27,000 had been swallowed up to include payment of fees and architects’

fees. We installed heating and a replacement boiler in the house and bought
an old car and the rest was swallowed up by the Post Office and financing our
larger mortgage. At the time I wasn’t earning enough to cover the monthly

repayments. It felt like robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Page 10 of 21
WHAT WERE THE COSTS OF MAKING GOOD ALLEGED SHORTFALLS SHOWN
BY HORIZON?
53.On 21 January 2004, my Area Manager visited me and could not explain the
discrepancy. The figure had reached £3,191.00 which I was told that I would
have to pay. As I did not have the funds, the Post Office agreed to deduct this
sum from my wages.
54. Over 2004 and 2005, the situation with the shortfalls continued: -

a) I paid a shortfall of £724.34 which was paid out of my wages.

b) I paid a further shortfall of £188.31 in September 2005.

c) A shortfall of £9,000 then occurred, which I funded from re-mortgaging
my personal property and from a loan of approximately £3,000 which I
borrowed from a friend. This happened around 2005, but I would need
to check the exact details and dates here.

55. It was a struggle. I repaid in excess of £13,000 over 2004 and 2005.
56. In order to repay the shortfall found at the audit, we sold a piece of land in our

garden to a developer (further explained in paragraph 49).

HOW WERE YOU AFFECTED WHEN ALLEGED TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR
SHORTFALLS OR DISCREPANCIES SHOWN BY THE HORIZON IT SYSTEM?

57.During the time the Post Office was closed after the audit, people were

continuously asking me questions about when it was going to reopen. It was a

highly stressful time, so I told them there was something wrong with the

computer system. I was so worried and stressed that I cannot recall everything

that was said to me by the investigators and past events seem blurred.

Page 11 of 21
58.1 felt sick and embarrassed too. I was left with continuous worry and stress
about what the Post Office was going to do next. It felt like a nightmare. I felt
emotional, extremely upset, and ashamed. No one listened to me, I felt
confused over what had happened and like I was kept in the dark. It was a very
frightening experience.

59.1 tried to remain calm and stoical but my self-esteem and general confidence
has been hugely affected.

60.1 had been to the GP not only because of the stress and anxiety, but also
because I had a pain in my arm and chest. This was scary, everything was
overwhelming. They gave me and ECG and they told me that it was stress

related. The stress was obviously from the situation.

WHAT WERE THE CONSEQUENCES OF BEING HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR
SHORTFALLS AND DISCREPANCIES SHOWN BY THE HORIZON IT SYSTEM?

61.The result of the discrepancies was a lengthy criminal prosecution and a
conviction. I was made out to be a criminal and in the eyes of the law and
society I was. From thereon I had a criminal record.

62. Following my suspension/termination, conviction, loss of post office salary and
payment of monies to the post office and costs, I did what I could to keep the
retail side going.

63. The Probation Officer had told me to do everything to try and keep the shop, as
the warning was that I wouldn’t secure employment with a criminal record. I still
had the lease on the building.

64. Over time, the café side of the shop got bigger and I was told that I needed

ventilation in the kitchen. I had to do improvements in the kitchen and borrowed

Page 12 of 21
money for this from a friend, so I could keep it going. It became too much with

all of the work and the responsibility and eventually I ran out of puff.

WHAT WERE YOUR FINANCIAL LOSSES CAUSED BY ACTION TAKEN AGAINST
YOU IN RELIANCE UPON HORIZON DATA?

65.1 sold the business in May 2014. I had just had enough and wanted to be free
of the business and everything that had been associated with it. When I sold
the shop it just broke even. I sold it for £30,000 which included all the stock and
fixtures and fittings.

66.Financially, things have been hard. My husband still must do gardening work,
this is on top of receiving his pension to bring some money into the house. He
should not have to be in this position. He should be enjoying retirement.

67. This is the same for me. I need to work. We still have a huge mortgage.

68.We had to sell the piece of land in our garden to pay for the shortfalls and to
keep the mortgage going. We did everything possible to keep our home over
this. We did have to re-mortgage our property to fund this. The interest rates at
the time were around 7%. We were using credit cards with huge interest rates
in addition.

69.1 paid £1,000 in legal costs after my trial.

70.1 remember at the time because of my criminal record my mum had to declare
that I had a criminal record to the house insurance. This caused the insurance
to increase. The shop insurance and the car insurance also increased because
of this.

71.1In 2010 }

and I entered into a debt plan since we could not service the

debts at this stage. I was paying amounts of interest on these debts which were

Page 13 of 21
just crippling. Some good news is that significant debts that were owed to Wells
Fargo have been written off and no longer need to be paid since they simply
moved out of the UK and wrote to me in July 2017 to confirm that they were
writing off the debt.

72.My mum went into a debt plan two years later. We had been using my mum's
credit cards. My mum’s debt plan got written off when she died. We couldn't
get a grant for a wet room for my mum, even though we had applied. They told
us that the income was too high, but all of the outgoings were to pay off my

credit cards.

WHAT EFFECT DID IT HAVE TO BE ACCUSED OF COMMITTING CRIMINAL
OFFENCES AS A RESULT OF SHORTFALLS AND DISCREPANCIES SHOWN BY
THE HORIZON IT SYSTEM?

73.On my solicitors advice, I pleaded guilty to 14 counts of False Accounting. I
wasn’t guilty and I can’t describe how difficult it was to plead guilty to crimes I
did not commit. I cannot describe how difficult it was to reconcile this in my own
mind. I was forced into an intolerable situation, and I felt as though my “nose
was being rubbed in it”. The humiliation, worry, confusion and fear were all very
present. I still live with a lot of those feelings.

74. On the day of sentencing I was not sure if I was going to go to prison. I said
farewell to my family and friends. The experience was just awful, I wouldn’t wish
it on my worst enemy. I couldn’t explain the missing money, I found myself
wanting to scream. The whole thing was a living nightmare. I wept when the
Judge indicated that he was not considering a custodial sentence. I was so

relieved.

Page 14 of 21
75.1 feel hurt at the injustice of it all and I now feel so angry about the events of the
past 18 years. As a family, we have had to survive this horrendous ordeal,
having to beg and borrow money from wherever we could. We have had to live
with huge amounts of debt hanging over our heads constantly worrying about
money and creditors.

76.I have not been able to stop for one day. I am drained and tired. I have lost the
best years of my life. These years have been stolen from me and from my
family. I feel worn down, but I am so angry about what happened. The Post
Office lied and there was a massive cover up. I had to resolve to fight for my
own justice but the stress and fatigue that has come with this is unimaginable.
It has taken its toll.

77.When I think back, I wonder how!” and myself have managed to get

through such turbulent times. On so many occasions I felt hopeless about the
future and having such a lack of control over events was frightening. I was
powerless. My whole family was involved, I felt like a burden and feel guilty for
that.

78.When I found out that I wasn’t the only one, I felt indescribable anger. In
particular, when I found out they had hidden the report pre-sentencing which
could have cleared the charges beforehand. It makes me furious, the anger
burns. People should be accountable, but I understand this is unlikely. The Post
Office is an institution, a corporate machine. But I question why anyone would
do that, it’s just incomprehensible that they chose to ruin people.

79.I have since been diagnosed as having suffered with an adjustment disorder
and mixed anxiety and depressive disorder, all subsequent to the events since

2003.

Page 15 of 21
80.1 am currently undergoing psychological treatment after this was recommended

81.

by a Consultant Psychiatrist. The symptoms that come with this I recognise as
poor concentration and have difficulty in reading a book for example. I comfort
eat and find that my mind is constantly overactive. It goes over and over in my
head, I can’t resolve it and it’s so frustrating. I almost feel as though I’ve been
violated. I can’t rest or relax and find it difficult to sleep, this results in no more
than 4 hours sleep on an average night. I feel anxious about my health and my
family’s health. I worry most days to the point where this feels constant. I feel
guilty about everybody else that can’t or won’t get compensated. Those that
stood beside me and won’t see any meaningful compensation.

My reputation was damaged beyond repair, and this causes me considerable
pain and embarrassment even today. The national and local newspapers
covered my conviction, so I had to deal with this adverse publicity. It has been
very damaging. People lose faith after a conviction and whilst I had a lot of

support from the local community, I could feel this fading.

82. Originally, I had been asked by members of the local community to run the

village shop and eventually I took on the running of the Post Office too. I held a
prominent position in the local community and people trusted me. Despite all
the support I had received from the Community, the situation with the Post
Office and my conviction significantly damaged my reputation in the village. It

had been a fall from grace for a pillar of the community.

83.I’m sure that I was the subject of village gossip, the whole thing was degrading.

I did have friends that stood by me but there would have been others who didn’t

know me so well.

Page 16 of 21
WHAT WERE THE CONSEQUENCES OF BEING CONVICTED OF A CRIMINAL
OFFENCE AS A RESULT OF SHORTFALLS AND DISCREPANCIES SHOWN BY
THE HORIZON IT SYSTEM?
84.The consequences are far reaching. There have been financial losses as
explained above. Then there have been the smaller things such as I was asked
to leave my granddaughters class at school. I wasn’t allowed to be left with her
or the class due to my criminal record. This was embarrassing all around. I was
only helping to make Easter bonnets. Thinking back, this was heart-breaking.
85.1 feel that my life, as well as my husbands and parents’ wellbeing were also
stolen away by the Post Office. It was not just me that suffered.
86.My parents were deeply involved in helping financially and emotionally. They
helped to keep the shop afloat, they gave up money and took out loans. They
supported me as much as they could. I believe the stress of it all caused them
to become ill. They both suffered with a stroke within three months of each other
and both subsequently passed away after battling cancer.
87.My parents had to live through all of the horror with me, and they passed away
before my conviction was formally quashed and I was vindicated. They passed
away in debt.
88.Following my conviction, I continued with the shop. I had no choice. With my
criminal conviction, I could not have found any alternative employment. Had
the whole situation with the Post Office and shop not occurred, we would have
carried on working in the post office, shop and cafe until retirement and then
developed the piece of garden we had to sell.
89. Since I sold the shop, I have only carried out casual work, such as cleaning and

dog walking. I would have loved to have gone back into care work and work

Page 17 of 21
with children, but as a result of my criminal conviction this was impossible. I
now work for people who know and trust me. I have had to do what I can to

survive.

WHAT EFFECT DID THESE ISSUES HAVE UPON YOUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH
YOUR FAMILY, FRIENDS, COLLEAGUES AND LOCAL COMMUNITY?

90.The situation with the Post Office has had an effect on the relationships within
my family.

91.1 feel guilty about dragging my parents through the mud with me. I feel guilty
that I was emotionally unavailable for my children and husband at times. My
son being in the Police Force had to declare me as a criminal every time he
moved roles, due to the background checks.

92. During the Court proceedings I received so much overwhelming support from
my local community. My village vicar gave me a character witness statement
and over 70 members of the community attended the sentencing hearing to
support me. You could see that the Judge was very surprised to see so many
people at the hearing. It wasn’t usual.

93.Yet, despite all of the support which I had received from my community, the
situation with the Post Office and my conviction significantly damaged my
reputation in the village. This causes me considerable pain and embarrassment

even today.

Page 18 of 21
PLEASE DESCRIBE THE DIRECT AND INDIRECT EFFECT WHICH THESE

ISSUES HAD UPON THE MEMBERS OF YOUR FAMILY?
94.1 do blame my mum and dad having strokes on the stress. They were so healthy
and hearty and fit. I believe that they would have lived into their 90’s had it been

a different matter and had they not had to watch me go through things.

95: GRO I is just tired, he’s always tired because we are still working to pay the
mortgage. We have missed out on the nicer side of life. There has been little
joy and light heartedness. We couldn't afford to go anywhere or do anything.

We had an old banger of a car. Life was harder than it should have been.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

96.1 cannot find the words to express my feelings after an 18-year battle with the
Post Office and its criminal treatment of its sub postmasters.

97.Finding I was not alone was such a relief. Sitting together, finding solace in
each other as we told our stories and realising we had all been treated in the
same appalling way, lit a fire inside me and drove me forward to where I am
today. That fire still burns brightly.

98.Where am I? So far, I've endured two gruelling High Court trials which the sub
postmasters won comprehensively, my conviction has been quashed and yet
the fight is still ongoing.

99. The fact that a post office investigator wrote "there was no evidence of theft or
deliberate cash inflated figures" then stood by and watched me be charged in
court with theft and ultimately convicted for false accounting makes my blood
boil. I was violated - financially ruined, my reputation in tatters. Eighteen years

have been stolen from me, to say nothing of the money that was taken and the

Page 19 of 21
wider impact on those close to me. My parents went to their graves without
knowing that I would ever be exonerated - that can never be rectified.

100. The Post Office has blood on their hands - they have destroyed thousands of
lives and I believe the web of lies and deceit spans much further than the Post
Office, to Government and beyond. And after all that, I know that I am LUCKY,
yes lucky to have had a criminal conviction. Perverse as it sounds, I am ina
much better position than most - the group from the GLO who were ruined but
not prosecuted now have a battle to try and recover their litigation costs. This is
wrong on every level. We are in 2021. How can this scale of cover up and
corruption go on? Lord Justice Coulson likened the Post Office to a "Mid
Victorian factory owner " in its treatment of the sub postmasters. Now is the
opportunity for the Post Office and the Government to stand together and do the
right thing - have a conscience and make amends for their misdemeanours. I,
for one, will not stop fighting for justice and restitution for the wider group. Surely,

I have fought for long enough...

Page 20 of 21
Statement Of Truth

I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true.

Signed: Position Or
GRO Office Held:
Print Full Date of signature: Jan 13, 2022

Name: JOSEPHINE HAMILTON

FILE REFERENCE

Page 21 of 21