A FORMER subpostmaster prosecuted for stealing says she feels more optimistic about her plight after a recent BBC investigation.

In the Panorama programme, which aired on Monday, the BBC claimed to have seen documents which show the Post Office’s own criminal investigator couldn’t find any evidence of theft by Jo Hamilton.

As reported by The Gazette, Mrs Hamilton was accused of stealing £36,000 from her branch in South Warnborough in 2006.

She was forced to remortgage her home for £30,000 to pay back the sum after pleading guilty to 14 counts of false accounting at Winchester Crown Court.

Mrs Hamilton has always said she did not understand the Post Office’s Horizon computer system and is one of dozens of subpostmasters to have been prosecuted who experienced similar problems.

Presenter John Sweeney read out text from documents in which the criminal investigator into Mrs Hamilton’s losses reported that there was no evidence of theft.

Mrs Hamilton told The Gazette: “I feel more optimistic. I do not think you can get much more high profile than Panorama.”

She is part of a group of ex-subpostmasters which has contacted the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which will investigate to see whether miscarriages of justice occurred.

The programme also featured a former computer technician, who said programme errors with Horizon were more widespread than has been reported.

The Post Office stated that only a tiny proportion of subpostmasters have complained about the Horizon system. It said: “The system is effective and robust.

It is independently audited and has been used by nearly 500,000 people since it was brought into service.”