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  • 2 days ago
A former paperboy has come forward with a memory of the old Post Office that Simon Edgemcombe says could support the account he has given for decades, which would help him in his appeal.

Kristin Hawthorne reports.
Transcript
00:00What he says in that article is true.
00:03Two weeks ago, we heard from Simon Edgecombe, who says he went to prison for almost a year
00:08after being wrongly prosecuted by the post office in the 1980s over money he says was payment for a van.
00:16Have you ever had money from the girl in the sub post office?
00:19To which my honest answer was yes, I have.
00:22It was an honest response and one Simon has carried with him as he tries to make sense of what
00:27happened more than 40 years ago
00:28with no one to help check his memories or back up what he believes to be true.
00:33That is, until Michael Baker came into the picture after reading the article on Kent Online
00:38looking for people who might know what happened.
00:41The more I read the article, the more my sort of chin sort of hit the floor.
00:46When I see the picture of the post office and it being in Reignan Road,
00:50I recall that I was a paper boy there during the time.
00:54His memory of the old post office is significant.
00:57He says he remembers money was taken from the till,
01:01something which supports Simon's version of events that he's been telling for years.
01:05Yeah, I mean, because it was my first ever job, I remember it really well
01:09because I tell my children now the story of how much I used to earn,
01:13which at the time was 50p around.
01:16And I had a savings book.
01:19It had a blue plastic cover.
01:21And so sometimes I was paid directly from the till.
01:25But also when I was saving on other occasions, I'd be paid from the post office till
01:29because I would recall that I'd get my money and then sometimes hand some of it back.
01:34I can recall being paid like that.
01:36So for me, it would be easy to see how there would have been a mix-up
01:40when they're between the two different tills.
01:43As the pair recounted their memories of standard procedures at the time,
01:47it came as a relief to Simon, as for the first time it felt like he had someone on his
01:52side.
01:53Previously, I've had no evidence to present to an appeal court about an appeal,
01:58apart from my recollection.
01:59And of course, appeal courts, they would like independent evidence.
02:05And I've had none.
02:07But this is not the end of the story.
02:09If somebody else can come forward within the next four or five weeks, perfect.
02:14If they had some association, if they received money from there,
02:18if they were a milkman, they worked with the milkman,
02:21they were a paper boy, paper girl, window cleaner,
02:24anything such as that that received money from the post office.
02:30As Simon continues to fight for justice, now with Michael by his side,
02:34the appeal goes on for anyone else who can help piece together what actually happened.
02:40Kristen Hawthorne for KMTV, Reynham.
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