A FORMER subpostmaster, who was convicted of accounting fraud, says a new investigation has given her hope of clearing her name.

Jo Hamilton, 56, who ran the sub post office in South Warnborough, was among hundreds of subpostmasters to have their contracts terminated by the Post Office over accusations of false accounting.

The mother-of-two hit the headlines in 2008 when at Winchester Crown Court she admitted 14 counts of false accounting relating to the disappearance of £36,500 from South Warnborough’s sub post office. She was sentenced to a community order, with a 12-month supervision requirement.

The group of subpostmasters also includes David Bristow, who ran the former branch in Odiham High Street. He was asked to pay back £42,000 to the Post Office and also had his contract terminated.

James Arbuthnot, the MP for North East Hampshire, took up their cases and asked for an external review of the Horizon computer accounting system which the Post Office requires subpostmasters to use.

An interim report, released on Monday, did not find evidence of systematic problems with Horizon, but said that on two occasions, defects led to 76 branches being affected by incorrect balances or transactions.

Specialist firm Second Sight Support Services, which is carrying out the review, also said the Post Office’s response to reported problems seemed “unhelpful, unsympathetic or simply failed to solve the underlying problem”.

Mrs Hamilton told The Gazette: “This feels like the beginning of the end. I am encouraged. The fact that the report even took place is amazing, and it did back us up about a lack of training. I am quite hopeful for the future.”

Mrs Hamilton has insisted all along that she did not take the money, and that it was due to glitches with the Post Office’s computer accounting system.

On Monday evening, Mr Arbuthnot chaired a meeting at Westminster into the interim report. Afterwards, he said: “It does highlight some real issues of concern, some of which the Post Office has already addressed, some of which they are putting forward proposals today to address, and some of which remain unresolved.”

Paula Vennels, chief executive of the Post Office, said the company is determined to address the questions raised but said the review “underlines our cause for confidence in the overall system”.

It has proposed a new branch user forum and the creation of a review into adjudication of disputes.