Former South Warnborough sub-postmaster Jo Hamilton gives evidence during the Post Office Horizon inquiry led by the government's Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee on December 14, 2021. Watch the full hour-long session here: http://tinyurl.com/y7rxd3m9
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00:00 Good morning to all of you this morning. My first question is to Jo and to Paul. I would
00:07 just like to ask if you could set out for the committee, from your particular examples,
00:12 the extent of your financial losses arising from this scandal and whether you had to use
00:18 personal funds to pay for shortfalls in the system whilst you were working.
00:23 I did have to use personal funds. I had to remortgage the house. When I had discrepancies,
00:31 they kept my wages twice. I would ring up and say how much the shortfall was and they
00:37 would say, 'Well, you've got to pay it.' There was no question about that it might
00:44 not be correct. They just kept my wages until it was paid off. Then the amounts grew and
00:50 I remortgaged and put £9,000 in. I borrowed money from friends. My parents helped out.
00:57 Then ultimately I ended up in Winchester Crown Court. I had to plead guilty to false accounting.
01:02 I was pleaded not guilty to theft. Then they did a last-minute plea bargain, provided I
01:08 repaid all the money and didn't mention Horizon on my sentencing. I then had to remortgage
01:14 the house and the village had a whip round for the rest of the money that I couldn't
01:18 get. How much was the total amount of that plea bargain that you had to pay to the Post
01:23 Office? £36,600 plus a £1,000 cost I had to raise on the day. You had to pay for their
01:31 legal costs? Yes. Paul, can I just come to you with the same question?