Latest news with #JoHamilton
ITV News
08-07-2025
- ITV News
'Will it ever be put right?': Former subpostmasters react to findings of Post Office Inquiry
Former subpostmasters affected by the Horizon IT scandal have welcomed the damning first report from the official inquiry, saying it shows the "full scale of the horror that they unleashed on us". It's been called one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British legal history, now a report into the Horizon IT scandal has found Post Office bosses were aware the system was faulty but "maintained a fiction" that it was always accurate, having "disastrous impacts". Approximately 1,000 subpostmasters were wrongfully convicted by the Post Office between 1999 and 2015, after the Horizon IT software made it appear as if money was missing from their accounts. The 162-page report by Sir Wyn Williams, published Tuesday, also concluded that at least 13 people may have taken their own lives after being accused of wrongdoing by the Post Office, and a further 59 people had contemplated suicide as a result of stress from the scandal. ITV News has spoken to some of the subpostmasters affected by the Horizon IT scandal to hear their reaction to Sir Wyn Williams' report. Jo Hamilton Jo Hamilton is a former subpostmaster who has become a prominent figure in the search for justice. Her story was retold in the ITV drama 'Mr Bates vs The Post Office'. In response to the report, she said it 'shows the full scale of the horror that they unleashed on us'. Tracy McFadden Tracy McFadden ran a post office in Derbyshire for 14 years. When Horizon was installed, her plan to retire came to a disastrous halt. Tracy's story was also retold in the ITV drama. One moment which played out on screen was when Tracy rang the Horizon helpline for guidance over a discrepancy of £1,000. She then saw the sum double to £2,000, then £4,000 and finally £16,000. Tracy had to turn to her family to borrow money, as well as take out loans and credit cards to cover the alleged missing money. Eventually, she had debt collectors turn up at her front door. She said: "I've been stabbed in the back terribly and it's about time that knife came out". "I want to turn round and face those people. And I'm more than happy to do that. And that's what I want ... and I need." Seema Misra was running a Post Office in Surrey in 2005 but was suspended in 2008 after being accused of stealing £74,000. She was eight weeks pregnant with her second child when she was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment in 2010. She had her conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal in 2021. Shane Johnson Shane Johnson took over the Post Office branch in Kirkby-in-Ashfield in 2003. For four years he had no trouble until the organisation insisted he take over the contract for a new cashpoint which was linked to the Horizon IT system. He said: "Within weeks we suffered a catastrophic loss. Things had been linked to the main computer which had never been linked to our computers before. "So to us that was the fault. But the Post Office didn't accept that as being the fault. "They said, 'No, you've stolen the money'." To cover the continuous losses, Shane ran up a huge overdraft and had to plunder his savings. At the time he was a single father-of-two and the strain soon took its toll on family life. He eventually sold the business at a loss and estimates, by adding up loss of future earnings, he is £665,000 out of pocket. Shane has now reached a settlement with the Post Office. "Will it ever be put right? I personally don't think so. Will there ever be any accountability? I don't think so," he said. What does the Post Office say? A statement from the Post Office said: 'The Inquiry has brought to life the devastating stories of those impacted by the Horizon Scandal. Their experiences represent a shameful period in our history. "Today, we apologise unreservedly for the suffering which Post Office caused to postmasters and their loved ones. We will carefully consider the report and its recommendations.' What does the government say? Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: 'The publication of the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry's report today by Sir Wyn and his team marks an important milestone for sub-postmasters and their families. 'I welcome the publication today and am committed to ensuring wronged sub-postmasters are given full, fair, and prompt redress. 'The recommendations contained in Sir Wyn's report require careful reflection, including on further action to complete the redress schemes. Government will promptly respond to the recommendations in full in Parliament.' Post Office Minister Gareth Thomas said: 'I welcome the Inquiry's publication today and pay tribute to Sir Wyn and his team for their comprehensive and penetrating work. 'We must never lose sight of the Horizon Scandal's human impact on postmasters and their families, which the Inquiry has highlighted so well. 'Sir Wyn's report highlights a series of failings by the Post Office and various governments. His recommendations are immensely helpful as a guide for what is needed to finish the job, and we will respond in full to Parliament after carefully considering them.'
France 24
08-07-2025
- Business
- France 24
UK post office scandal may have caused 13 suicides: inquiry
The Post Office wrongfully prosecuted around 1,000 subpostmasters -- self-employed branch managers -- between 1999 and 2015. Errors in tech giant Fujitsu's Legacy Horizon accounting software incorrectly made it appear that money was missing from their accounts. Many ended up bankrupt after being forced by the Post Office to pay back the missing funds. Some were jailed. Dozens who were later exonerated died without ever seeing their names cleared. Inquiry chair Wyn Williams said that there was a "real possibility" that 13 people killed themselves as a result of their ordeal. Ten people attempted to take their own lives and 59 contemplated it, the report into the scandal found. Many of the prosecutions took place after questions were raised about the software's reliability. Police are investigating possible fraud committed during the scandal. "I am satisfied from the evidence that I have heard that a number of senior, and not-so-senior employees of the Post Office knew or, at the very least should have known, that Legacy Horizon was capable of error," Williams said in the report. "Yet... the Post Office maintained the fiction that its data was always accurate," he added. A "number of senior" people at the Post Office were aware the system was capable of error before it was changed in 2010, he said. Miscarriage of justice Welcoming the findings, former branch manager Jo Hamilton said the report showed "the full scale of the horror that they unleashed on us". Williams described the picture of the scandal that had emerged as "profoundly disturbing". "Many thousands of people have suffered serious financial detriment. Many people have inevitably suffered emotional turmoil and significant stress. "Many businesses and homes have been lost. Bankruptcies have occurred, marriage and families have been wrecked," he said. Among those who gave evidence to the inquiry was former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells who was quizzed about what she knew and when. Vennells broke down in tears when recalling the case of one man who took his own life after being wrongly accused over a £39,000 ($49,537) shortfall at his branch. The long-running saga hit the headlines after the broadcast in January 2024 of a television drama about the managers' ordeal, which generated a wave of sympathy and outrage. Fujitsu's European director Paul Patterson told a parliamentary committee later that the firm, which assisted the Post Office in prosecutions using flawed data from the software, was "truly sorry" for "this appalling miscarriage of justice". Many of those involved are still battling for compensation. The government's Department for Business and Trade (DBT) said last month that 7,569 claims out of the 11,208 received had now been paid, leaving 3,709 still to be settled. Alan Bates, a former branch manager who led the fight for justice, has said the compensation process has "turned into quasi-kangaroo courts". Bates, who was awarded a knighthood by King Charles III for his campaign to highlight the scandal, told the Sunday Times newspaper in May the DBT "sits in judgement of the claims and alters the goal posts as and when it chooses". Post Office Minister Gareth Thomas said last month the government had made it a priority to speed up the delivery of compensation since taking office in July 2024. © 2025 AFP
The Hill
08-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
At least 13 may have killed themselves over UK's Post Office wrongful convictions scandal
LONDON (AP) — At least 13 people were thought to have taken their own lives as a result of Britain's Post Office scandal, in which almost 1,000 postal employees were wrongly prosecuted or convicted of criminal wrongdoing because of a faulty computer system, a report said Tuesday. Another 59 people contemplated suicide over the scandal, one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in U.K. history. From around 1999 to 2015, hundreds of people who worked at Post Office branches were wrongly convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting, with some imprisoned and others forced into bankruptcy. Some lost their homes, while others suffered health problems or breakdowns in their relationships or became ostracized by their communities. Retired judge Wyn Williams, who chairs a public inquiry into the scandal, said in a report published Tuesday that 13 people killed themselves as a consequence of a faulty Post Office accounting system 'showing an illusory shortfall in branch accounts,' according to their families. The problems at the Post Office, which is state-owned but operates as a private business, were known for years. But the full scale of the injustice didn't become widely known until last year, when a TV docudrama propelled the scandal to national headlines and galvanized support for victims. The culprit was software called Horizon, which the Post Office introduced 25 years ago across branches to automate sales accounting. When the software showed false account shortfalls, the Post Office accused branch managers of dishonesty and obliged them to repay the money. In all, the report said that about 1,000 people were prosecuted and convicted based on evidence from the faulty system. The government has since introduced legislation to reverse the convictions and compensate the victims. Jo Hamilton, a former Post Office manager and a lead campaigner, said that the report 'shows the full scale of the horror that they unleashed on us.' Tuesday's report was the first to be published from the inquiry, which is expected to issue a further report at a later date that will potentially attribute blame.
South Wales Guardian
08-07-2025
- Politics
- South Wales Guardian
Post Office scandal report ‘shows full scale of horror unleashed on victims'
Jo Hamilton was falsely prosecuted for a shortfall of £36,000 at her Post Office branch in South Warnborough, Hampshire, in 2006. A first tranche of the public inquiry's final report into the scandal, published on Tuesday, laid bare the devastating consequences for victims and their families, from police investigations to convictions and imprisonment. Between 1999 and 2015, approximately 1,000 subpostmasters were prosecuted after faulty Horizon accounting software made it look as though money was missing from their accounts. The report said 59 victims of the scandal contemplated suicide with 10 attempting to take their own lives. Inquiry chairman Sir Wyn Williams said there was a 'real possibility' 13 people took their own lives as a result of the suffering they endured during the scandal. Other details in the report detailed impacts including bankruptcy and relationship breakdowns. Speaking following the report's publication, Ms Hamilton – who was made an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) for services to justice – said it is 'really important'. She added: 'It shows the full scale of the horror that they unleashed on us. You know, we were just decent people trying to do a day's work for our community.' Sir Wyn, who said around 10,000 people are eligible to submit compensation claims, urged the Government to establish a public body to devise, administer and deliver compensation to those wronged by authorities. Ms Hamilton said that was a 'necessary' recommendation which she would like to see implemented immediately. 'The Government shouldn't be anywhere near this because they actually owned the Post Office which perpetrated the crime and they must have been aware what was going on. So I think they should be taken out of it altogether.' Asked about her hopes for the future, she said: 'I have a sneaky feeling that this will run right through next year, because that's the way things are, but I really hope not, because so many people are dying. 'You know, we've lost, I think 350 is the number, and 100 of the GLO (Group Litigation Order) group aren't here any more, and there's still 138 of them to be paid which is incredible.'
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
At least 13 may have killed themselves over UK's Post Office wrongful convictions scandal
LONDON (AP) — At least 13 people were thought to have taken their own lives as a result of Britain's Post Office scandal, in which almost 1,000 postal employees were wrongly prosecuted or convicted of criminal wrongdoing because of a faulty computer system, a report said Tuesday. Another 59 people contemplated suicide over the scandal, one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in U.K. history. From around 1999 to 2015, hundreds of people who worked at Post Office branches were wrongly convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting, with some imprisoned and others forced into bankruptcy. Some lost their homes, while others suffered health problems or breakdowns in their relationships or became ostracized by their communities. Retired judge Wyn Williams, who chairs a public inquiry into the scandal, said in a report published Tuesday that 13 people killed themselves as a consequence of a faulty Post Office accounting system 'showing an illusory shortfall in branch accounts," according to their families. The problems at the Post Office, which is state-owned but operates as a private business, were known for years. But the full scale of the injustice didn't become widely known until last year, when a TV docudrama propelled the scandal to national headlines and galvanized support for victims. The culprit was software called Horizon, which the Post Office introduced 25 years ago across branches to automate sales accounting. When the software showed false account shortfalls, the Post Office accused branch managers of dishonesty and obliged them to repay the money. In all, the report said that about 1,000 people were prosecuted and convicted based on evidence from the faulty system. The government has since introduced legislation to reverse the convictions and compensate the victims. Jo Hamilton, a former Post Office manager and a lead campaigner, said that the report 'shows the full scale of the horror that they unleashed on us." Tuesday's report was the first to be published from the inquiry, which is expected to issue a further report at a later date that will potentially attribute blame. Sylvia Hui, The Associated Press Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
