يحاول ذهب - حر

Letters after my name have vindicated me

June 21, 2025

|

Scottish Daily Express

One of more than 900 subpostmasters cruelly smeared in the Post Office Horizon Scandal, Jo Hamilton fought for justice alongside Alan Bates. Compensation and an OBE might have cleared her name, but the 20-year battle for justice continues

- By Karen Rockett

PEN Jo Hamilton’s new book and you'll find a moving dedication to her beloved parents who “never stopped believing” in her and gave her “the courage to always keep fighting”.

Jo was one of hundreds of victims of the Horizon IT Post Office scandal. Wrongly accused of fraud and convicted of 14 counts of false accounting, she received a supervision order and was forced to pay the Post Office £36,000 — although it was money she did not owe.

After a long, exhausting battle, her 2008 conviction, along with 68 others, was eventually overturned by the Court of Appeal in April 2021. She has since settled for 80% of her compensation claim, having originally been offered just 20% (it has, happily, since been topped up).

Now the 68-year-old, played on screen by Monica Dolan in the smash hit ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office last year, has written about her experiences in Why Are You Here, Mrs Hamilton? And later this month she is off to Buckingham Palace to collect her OBE, awarded in the King’s New Year's Honours for her services to justice, having fought alongside Alan Bates for the 900-plus sub-postmasters, many prosecuted between 1999 and 2015 for offences including theft, fraud and false accounting.

It is, she declares, a “total vindication”.

Her biggest regret, however, is that her parents will not be there to see her recognised for her campaigning and that they died before she was able to clear her name.

Jo’s father, Frank, died in 2016, while her mother, Min, passed away the following year, both in the house in South Warnborough, Hampshire, where Jo and her husband David still live. Both suffered strokes — she thinks due to the pressure of the case — and died of cancer. Her love for them, and gratitude, shines through in her book.

المزيد من القصص من Scottish Daily Express

Scottish Daily Express

BEAR WITH ME

Muscat could ask McCann to keep seat warm for him

time to read

1 mins

October 15, 2025

Scottish Daily Express

Scottish Daily Express

Tories: walk-in GP clinics just a ‘stunt’

JOHN Swinney’s plans to set up a network of walk-in GP clinics across Scotland have been dismissed as “back-of-a-fag-packet stuff” and a “pre-election stunt”.

time to read

2 mins

October 15, 2025

Scottish Daily Express

Scottish Daily Express

Our giant pumpkin squashed a world record!

After 50 years of persistence and near misses, British twin brothers Ian and Stuart Paton have finally beaten the Americans with their homegrown ginormous gourd. ADITI RANE gets the inside scoop on how they did it

time to read

5 mins

October 15, 2025

Scottish Daily Express

Scottish Daily Express

Emheirgency services

Kate's burning desire for full speed fire engine ride

time to read

3 mins

October 15, 2025

Scottish Daily Express

Scottish Daily Express

Woman, 83, ‘punched by neighbour’ in King’s town

Fracas after car fumes ruin wine in the garden, jury told

time to read

1 mins

October 15, 2025

Scottish Daily Express

Scottish Daily Express

Steroid creams could help body fight cancer

STEROID creams could help fight cancer thanks to an unexpected discovery, according to research.

time to read

2 mins

October 15, 2025

Scottish Daily Express

Scottish Daily Express

Queen star no longer speaks to bandmates

GUITAR legend Sir Brian May has admitted he and Roger Taylor no longer speak to their former Queen bandmate John Deacon despite spending 27 years working together.

time to read

1 mins

October 15, 2025

Scottish Daily Express

Scottish Daily Express

Labour's betrayal of brave Northern Ireland veterans

Ex-troops fear prosecutions for actions during Troubles

time to read

2 mins

October 15, 2025

Scottish Daily Express

Scottish Daily Express

Is he Mooey Armstrong?

SOME very appreciative cows think this jazz trumpeter is the best thing they've ever herd...

time to read

1 min

October 15, 2025

Scottish Daily Express

Scottish Daily Express

Rice work if you can get it on first British crop

THE first rice crop grown in the UK is being harvested after the hottest summer on record.

time to read

1 min

October 15, 2025

Listen

Translate

Share

-
+

Change font size