In for a pound...

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.lep.co.uk/news/local/in_for_ ... _1_3637084" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A disgraced postmistress who stole almost £100,000 from her branch has been ordered to pay back just £1.

Jacqueline McDonald, 45, admitted multiple counts of theft and false accounting relating to Broughton Post Office earlier this year.

She was jailed for 18 months in January but today it can be revealed that she was released after four-and-a-half months on good behaviour and is now back living in a flat above the Garstang Road sub-post office, which remains closed.

The mum-of-three was brought back to Preston Crown Court last week for a Proceeds of Crime hearing, which enables the crown to confiscate money obtained by criminal means.

The hearing heard she made a total of £99,759 from the offences.

But Judge Graham Knowles QC said an investigation into her financial affairs discovered she had no realisable assets, so she was ordered to pay back just £1.

Today, residents and village leaders in Broughton labelled the result a “joke” and a “mockery”.

Former post office regular Kevin Fraser, 32, of Northway, Broughton, said: “There is something wrong with the system – it is a joke.

“Having to pay a quid after taking all that money is scandalous.”

Another resident, who asked not to be named, said: “It makes a total mockery of all of us and goes to show that crime does pay for some people. It makes me sick.”

Preston Coun Neil Cartwright, who represents the Preston Rural East ward, which includes Broughton, said: “British justice does sometimes leave you scratching your head.

“It really is ridiculous and it gnaws at me, especially when the post office is still closed.

“All this has resulted in the closure of the well-used village post office and shop and it is the local people who suffer.” Bizarrely McDonald today protested her innocence when contacted by the Evening Post – even though she pleaded guilty to charges of theft and false accounting at the original hearing – and said she is currently involved in a civil claim against the Post Office.

In a statement, she said: “I’d like to apologise to the citizens of Broughton for any inconvenience this may have caused.

“I have been instructed by my solicitor to not make any comments at this time due to an ongoing civil claim against the Post Office, which I am involved with.

“However, I can say that I did not steal one penny.”

She claims glitches in the Post Office’s accounting system – Horizon – caused the unexplained losses.

She says she is part of a civil case involving other sub-post masters planning legal action against the Post Office, which has previously denied any serious problems with its systems.

The Evening Post has learned she was released on licence from jail in June for ‘good behaviour’.

McDonald took over the branch in December 2006 when she returned from the United States with her husband.

But from March 2008 she admitted clearing ‘fictitious’ figures relating to cash held on the premises. Prisoners generally serve half of their sentence in custody before being released on licence.

In October 2008 a Post Office business development officer visited the branch to check the amounts of cash being held and found a large shortfall which sparked an investigation.

During the original case that finished at Preston Crown Court in January, McDonald’s legal team said she had taken on the business with the best intentions but ran into financial difficulties following a refurbishment and installation of new systems in May 2007.

She was jailed for 18 months after pleading guilty to theft and multiple counts of false accounting.

A Proceeds of Crime hearing at Preston Crown Court was told McDonald has no realisable assets and would be in negative equity if she sold her flat. As a result, Judge Knowles QC made a nominal order for her to pay £1.

A Royal Mail spokesman said she could not comment on individual cases.

[Judgee]

Yey crime does pay after all! Cya later peeps I'm off to do a bit of shoplifting!

[fishtank]

Yey crime does pay after all! Cya later peeps I'm off to do a bit of shoplifting!

It's possible she actually physically stole the money and buried it in a hole in the ground.
It's possible she used it to cover loses elsewhere.
It's also possible that she didn't steal a thing.
There is no hint that this person lived an extravagant lifestyle and yet she has no assets despite allegedly stealing almost £100,000.
I'm not convinced...either by Horizon or RM's continued blind faith in it..there have been too many of these stories where even RM admit they can find no trace of the missing money.
If it turns out that my employer has been sending innocent people to jail through an unwillingness to look at it's own potential failings then those at the top should also be facing jail sentences.

[clashcityrocker]

However, I can say that I did not steal one penny.”

She is still protesting her innocence.
She has gone back to live in the community she supposedly defrauded.

I wish her every success in her civil claim.

[Judgee]

"She was jailed for 18 months after pleading guilty to theft and multiple counts of false accounting."

[Straight4ward]

The following might be of interest;




Post Office faces legal action over alleged accounting system failures


Karl Flinders 
Tuesday 08 February 2011 14:33
More than 50 postmasters are planning legal action against the Post Office to reclaim money they paid to the Post Office after being accused of theft and false accounting.
All the postmasters protested their innocence and it is alleged that the problems could be down to the Post Office's Horizon accounting system, which they all use. The Post Office has denied an IT fault could cause the system to show incorrect balances
Access Legal, the consumer arm of law firm Shoosmiths, will initially launch the action for a group of six postmasters. It has a total of 55 already lined up to bring action and expects many more once the cases are made public.
Some of the postmasters gave exclusive interviews to Computer Weekly almost two years ago about the alleged Horizon problems.
Thousands of post offices use the Horizon IT system for their accounts and postmasters claim faults with the technology could be generating unexplained losses. The Post Office has denied this.
In recent years dozens of postmasters have been charged and even jailed with others repaying money following prosecutions. More than 250 post offices have been forced to close, according to Shoosmith's.
Amanda Glover, head of legal disputes at Shoosmiths, said, "Horizon was introduced to sub-post offices to provide first weekly, then monthly accounting, but didn't do a double entry, so it couldn't be checked regularly. Many users reported problems and couldn't work out how losses were arising. When they called a helpline, many claimed the problems got worse.
"Customers would try to get money from the hole-in-the-wall, but although they didn't receive it, it later showed as having been taken from their account.
"A key issue is the fact the system couldn't be accessed unless postmasters confirmed they agreed with figures on a daily basis, which led to errors being accepted by postmasters just so that they could log on to the system.
"They all say they have not taken any money, and while the Post Office says there is nothing wrong with Horizon, it appears to record people using it when they are not even logged on. One post office even recorded a loss when it was closed."
Glover said some postmasters are paying back "missing" amounts to avoid prosecution. The most common amount is around £35,000.
The Post Office said in a statement that it is "fully confident that the Horizon computer system in its branches, and all the accounting processes around it, are absolutely accurate and reliable at all times."
It added, "The Horizon system has been subjected to full, independently assured, robust testing procedures.
"The Horizon information security processes meet the relevant industry standards which apply to such organisations as banks and building societies.
"Subpostmasters are given fully appropriate training, typically including classroom training and a further time on site under close supervision and guidance from a Post Office manager. Subpostmasters can also ring a dedicated helpline for advice.
"The Horizon system has operated successfully for more than 10 years across the Post Office network, which currently stands at more than 11,500 branches.
"The National Federation of Subpostmasters, which represents the views and interests of subpostmasters around the country, has gone on record on a number of occasions to express its full confidence in the accuracy and robustness of the Horizon system.
"The Horizon system provides detailed records of every transaction, no matter how small or large, in any individual post office branch. Separate records of all key strokes in the system are stored in a tamper-proof way.
"The Post Office handles large sums of public money as well as the money entrusted to it by the 20 million people who visit our branches each week. The Post Office rightly makes every effort and takes all reasonable steps to protect the money in its care."

Pasted from <http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/ ... system.htm>

[Judgee]

"But from March 2008 she admitted clearing ‘fictitious’ figures relating to cash held on the premises."

"... McDonald’s legal team said she had taken on the business with the best intentions but ran into financial difficulties following a refurbishment and installation of new systems in May 2007."

[clashcityrocker]

"But from March 2008 she admitted clearing ‘fictitious’ figures relating to cash held on the premises."

"... McDonald’s legal team said she had taken on the business with the best intentions but ran into financial difficulties following a refurbishment and installation of new systems in May 2007."

Try reading the text up above.
The system shows up losses. No-one can explain why.
Are all these postmasters thieves and liars or does it perhaps suggest there is a far bigger problem?
People plead guilty to avoid a longer sentence. They rarely come out still protesting their innocence.

[sussub]

If both POL and NFSP are confident of Horizon's "robustness" , why do they panic when they are asked to what standards the system is tested?

There is more to this than meets the eye.

[subbie]

These people plead guilty to false accounting, which is essentially not telling the truth about the outcome of the monthly balance we have to produce. The figures in the balance sheet are altered to make the figures balance. They do this to cover up the fact that the figures do not balance, this is fundamentally different to taking cash.
The charges always seem to be for False accounting, and not theft.

So we need to be a bit more circumspect before anyone starts to make allegations that these individuals have actually got their hands on physical cash.

If there is a major civil litigation case pending and POL lose then POL will not have the dosh to pay the damages, and as someone has said maybe certain Directors could have their collar felt themselves as well.

As the owners of POL the Gov are going to have to step in, or will they let it go bankrupt?

Subbie

[Straight4ward]

sussub wrote;

If both POL and NFSP are confident of Horizon's "robustness" , why do they panic when they are asked to what standards the system is tested?

I found this when looking earlier which while not suggesting panic, at least, appears a less than forthcoming response;

Alan Bates
31 March 2011

Dear Royal Mail Group Limited,

Reference: Post Office Ltd Horizon System

In an article featured in the Sunday Express date 13th March 2011
relating to the faults numerous subpostmasters had found with the
Post Office Horizon system, a spokesman for the Post Office made
the following comment. He said that the Horizon system had been
independently tested and met industry standards.

My FOI request of Post Office Ltd is to know which industry
standards had been applied to Horizon and where the results of the
testing undertaken to test against those standards, can be viewed
or downloaded? Also with regard to the independent tests, who
carried them out? when where they carried out? what did they test?
and where can the results of the tests be viewed or downloaded?

Yours faithfully,
Alan Bates

and the reply he got

Dear Mr Bates

Ref: AJME-8FHFTC

I am writing in response to your email received by Post Office Limited on
31 March 2011, which I am dealing with under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. (the Act)

In your email, you have requested information in respect of Horizon; in
particular the industry standards applied, who undertook independent tests,
what was tested and where the results of the standards and testing can be
viewed or downloaded.

The tests being referred too, in the article you quote, are independent
audits undertaken annually by Ernest & Young, VocaLINK and the external
consultancy IRM (Payment Card Industry audit). These audits cover the whole
system including accounting, along with product and service end-to-end
processes. In addition the following accreditations have been applied,
British Standards Institute (BSI) security audit ISO 270001 and VocaLink &
Merchant Acquirer (Worldpay, Streamline, HSBC).

The results of the audits and the accreditations are not publically
available. - - - - - - -

- - - - Yours sincerely

Peter Johnson
Information Manager
PO BOX 2060
Watford Mail Centre
WATFORD
WD18 8ZW
01923 215110

Pasted from <http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/w ... he_post_of>

Disappointing, that.

[Woody Guthrie]

I'm not convinced...either by Horizon or RM's continued blind faith in it..there have been too many of these stories where even RM admit they can find no trace of the missing money.
If it turns out that my employer has been sending innocent people to jail through an unwillingness to look at it's own potential failings then those at the top should also be facing jail sentences.

Can't believe this was 9 years ago....
Watch panorama tonight.
Shocking stuff.

[Bazbuz]

An article from last year about the same woman.

https://www.lep.co.uk/news/crime/first- ... #gsc.tab=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[baldrick]

As well as sub-post offices, the Horizon program was also used in PO counters still owned by Post Office Counters Ltd and franchised POs. Could PO managers or staff also have got the blame for balance discrepancies?

[Woody Guthrie]

Yey crime does pay after all! Cya later peeps I'm off to do a bit of shoplifting!

It's possible she actually physically stole the money and buried it in a hole in the ground.
It's possible she used it to cover loses elsewhere.
It's also possible that she didn't steal a thing.
There is no hint that this person lived an extravagant lifestyle and yet she has no assets despite allegedly stealing almost £100,000.
I'm not convinced...either by Horizon or RM's continued blind faith in it..there have been too many of these stories where even RM admit they can find no trace of the missing money.
If it turns out that my employer has been sending innocent people to jail through an unwillingness to look at it's own potential failings then those at the top should also be facing jail sentences.

Bumped.
13 f***ing years later.
Even we knew.
Where is Vennels hiding these days?