Jo Hamilton vs the Post Office

Standard Issue Podcast

Standard Issue

Society & Culture

4.7 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 12 August 2025

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jo Hamilton was one of the most high-profile victims of the British Post Office Scandal in which she, along with hundreds of other innocent subpostmasters, was wrongly prosecuted for shortfalls caused by faulty accounting software. The scandal is quite rightly considered one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British judicial history – with the Government also very heavily implicated. Jo’s treatment at the hands of the Post Office had a devastating impact on, well, her whole world and that of her family. She went on to be a founding member of the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance and one of the 555 litigants in the successful group legal action of Bates & Others v Post Office Ltd. Her criminal conviction was overturned in April 2021. If you’ve seen ITV’s remarkable four-part drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office, Jo is played by Monica Dolan. And so when she heard Jo had written a book, Why Are You Here, Mrs Hamilton?, Mick jumped at the chance to talk to Jo about what happened, how it’s changed her, and what still needs to happen in order for justice to be served. Why Are You Here, Mrs Hamilton?: The Post Office Scandal and My Extraordinary Fight for Justice is published by Blink and available from all good bookshops. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:26.6	Standard issue for all women.
0:29.3	Hello, hello.
0:30.6	Welcome to Tuesday's episode of the Standard Issue podcast.
0:35.0	It's Mickey bringing you this chat I had with former sub-postmaster and total
0:39.5	champ, Joe Hamilton. Joe was one of the most high-profile victims of the British post office scandal,
0:46.4	and, along with hundreds of other innocent sub-postmasters, was wrongly prosecuted for shortfalls
0:52.8	caused by Fujitsu's faulty accounting software,
0:55.7	Horizon. The scandal is quite rightly considered one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British
1:01.5	judicial history, and you'll hear Joe point out, it's not just a post office scandal, but a
1:06.1	government scandal. She's right. Joe's treatment at the hands of the post office had a devastating impact on, well, her whole world and that of her family.
1:16.2	She went on to be a founding member of the Justice for Sub Postmasters Alliance and one of the 555 litigants in the successful group legal action of Bates and Others versus Post Office Limited.
1:28.2	Her criminal conviction was overturned in April 2021. If you've seen ITV's remarkable four-part drama, Mr Bates
1:35.3	versus the post office, Joe is played by Monica Dolan. And now Joe has written a book. Why
1:41.8	you hear Mrs Hamilton is Joe's story in her own words and I've got to tell
1:45.7	you it is a moving account of what happened to more than 900 people and it pulls no punches.
1:52.8	I say it happened there as if it's past tense but as it stands hundreds of people affected
1:56.9	by the post office scandal have yet to receive compensation. For them, it is very much
2:01.5	still happening. It was a real privilege to get Joe on the Zoom for anatter. As ever, there's a bit
2:07.2	more chat to be had for our £5 plus patrons, including what Joe really thought about being given
2:12.2	an OBE. So if you're not already involved, head to patreon.com forward slash standard issue and join the gang.
	...

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