Former village sub-postmistress Jo Hamilton has publicly thanked the people of South Warnborough for standing by her during one of the UK’s most notorious miscarriages of justice.

It comes as she releases a new book detailing her harrowing experiences after being caught up in the Post Office scandal.

Ms Hamilton, whose story featured in ITV’s Mr Bates vs The Post Office, was one of hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongly accused of financial misconduct due to faults in the Post Office’s Horizon computer system.

Her new book, Why Are You Here, Mrs Hamilton?, is named after the question a judge asked when 74 villagers turned up to support her in court.

“My village is absolutely wonderful – I can never repay what they did for me,” she said.

“I had a party for the village a couple of weekends ago to say thank you. But I don’t know how else to express my love and gratitude for them, and the fact that they all turned up and behaved so brilliantly, and they loved me and supported me right through this whole mess.”

Ms Hamilton, born in Portsmouth in 1957, had a varied career before taking over the South Warnborough post office in 2001.

She had worked for the Ministry of Defence, lived in West Germany as an army wife, driven trucks, been a carer, and run a tough pub in Aldershot.

But even that life experience could not prepare her for what followed when the Horizon system began reporting accounting shortfalls.

In her case, a £36,644.89 discrepancy led to her being charged. To avoid a more serious theft charge, she pleaded guilty to 14 counts of false accounting and received a community order with probation.

She was later exonerated after years of campaigning exposed widespread failures and cover-ups by the Post Office.

“People have always badgered me about writing a book, and I always thought I should – but I’ve been so busy campaigning, and then I thought ‘I’ll get to the end and then I’ll write one’,” she said.

“Then after the drama aired there was so much furore and I was approached to write one, and I thought now is a good time because the story is so awful – and I thought it might just put more pressure on the government to actually get this whole mess sorted out quicker than they are.”

Although she has now received financial redress, Jo is determined to keep fighting on behalf of those still waiting for justice.

“Obviously there are thousands more that still haven’t had their money, but what is important is the 138 people who have fought to enable all of this to happen,” she said.

“They still haven’t had their money, and when you actually can pay your bills it gives you such comfort – and I want everyone to feel the same as I do.”

Jo first connected with fellow campaigners during meetings at Fenny Compton village hall in Warwickshire. She said those friendships have been central to the movement’s success.

“It would be completely wrong to just take my money and clear off. Without the group, we wouldn’t be here – so I owe them a debt of gratitude and I’ll keep fighting until there’s no breath left for everyone to receive their financial redress.”

She also paid tribute to campaign leader Alan Bates, whose story was portrayed by Toby Jones in the ITV drama.

“Toby Jones summed him up – he said he’s an unemotional man, and he really is unemotional. But he’s a details man, and he’s a genuinely good man.

“He’s completely incorruptible, focused, and he always wanted the truth to come out – and he’s done it.”

To the Government, Jo had a final message: “Get your finger out, and get everyone paid. Stop paying lawyers fighting everybody to the last penny of their financial redress. Just pay people.”