Horizon scandal left me suicidal, says postmistress who lost her home thanks to computer glitch

She had lost her home, been shunned in her village, and was left £150,000 out of pocket because of glitches in the computer system. The Staffordshire sub-postmistress had even considered suicide, and gave notice that she wanted to quit her job.

"In February it was that bad, I was really suicidal, so I gave the Post Office four weeks' notice to take the terminal out," she says.

Her resignation was refused.

"They told me I had a contract with the Post Office. They said 'you are allowed to resign in July'."

The walls of Mrs Doal's convenience store in Wheaton Aston, Staffordshire, are festooned with awards she and her husband Charanjit have won since taking over the shop 18 years ago. Lauded for their work in the community, and their charitable fundraising, they were much-loved pillars of the community when they decided to add a Post Office counter to their business in 2014.

"There was a Post Office in the village, and when they retired we thought it was a very good chance to grow our business, and provide a service to the community," says the 43-year-old mother-of-two.

Mrs Doal had previously worked in banking, so was reasonably familiar with handling financial transactions. But she encountered problems the moment the Horizon system was installed.

"I started noticing shortfalls pretty much straight away," she says. "There were two other members of staff, so if there was a discrepancy I assumed it was one of the other staff. And it was only small amounts to begin with, so I just made up the difference."

As the losses began to mount up, she raised the issue with the Post Office, but her concerns fell on deaf ears.

"In 2016, I was trying to get help from the helpdesk, they just told me I had to make good the cash."

Frustrated by the lack of interest from the Post Office, she shut the counter for a week, and focused instead on the convenience store.