![\"Jo](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/05EF\/production\/_110091510_johamilton.jpg\")
Jo Hamilton<\/span><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n
Claimant Jo Hamilton was accused by the Post Office of taking \u00a336,000 from the village shop she ran in a village in Hampshire.<\/p>\n
She said of the settlement: “It’s one of the best days I’ve ever had. You dream about victory, but now it’s actually here.”<\/p>\n
She said that issues in the Horizon system led to big discrepancies in her accounts which she reported to her Post Office area manager.<\/p>\n
But that manager could find nothing wrong with the system, and Jo was put in a situation where “you had to prove your innocence”.<\/p>\n
After a two year process, she eventually pleaded guilty to false accounting at Winchester Crown Court to escape a more serious charge of theft.<\/p>\n
She soon gave up her shop and found it difficult to get a new job due to her criminal record. But she now feels vindicated, having fought to clear her name, and her conviction is being reviewed.<\/p>\n
‘Important lessons’<\/h2>\n
The Post Office apologised to the claimants, saying it was grateful to them “for holding us to account in circumstances where, in the past, we have fallen short.”<\/p>\n
Mr Read said: “I am very pleased we have been able to find a resolution to this longstanding dispute.<\/p>\n
“Our business needs to take on board some important lessons about the way we work with postmasters, and I am determined that it will do so. We are committed to a reset in our relationship with postmasters, placing them alongside our customers at the centre of our business.”<\/p>\n
Alan Bates, former sub-postmaster of the Craig-y-Don branch in Llandudno, and one of the lead claimants, said: “[We] would like to thank Nick Read, the new chief executive of Post Office, for his leadership, engagement and determination in helping to reach a settlement of this long-running dispute.<\/p>\n
“It would seem that from the positive discussions [we have had] there is a genuine desire to move on from these legacy issues and learn lessons from the past.”<\/p>\n
The Horizon system, which is provided by Fujitsu, is still being used in all 11,500 Post Office branches in the UK.<\/p>\n This is a major climb down by the Post Office which has made multiple appeals to try to see off the court case.<\/p>\n But legal costs were stretching into the tens of millions, so the price of losing at the end of this mammoth legal process could have been a great deal higher.<\/p>\n It’s not clear yet how much individual postmasters and mistresses will receive.<\/p>\n Lawyers’ fees have to be taken off, along with a charge from the litigation backer, Therium.<\/p>\n But just looking at the \u00a358m suggests payouts could be in the tens of thousands and even higher for the worst affected.<\/p>\n Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"Analysis](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/12B12\/production\/_109826567_simongompertz-nc.png\")
<\/span><\/figure>\n