Post office scandal victim repays charity

Rubbina Shaheen and her husband were made homeless when she was wrongly convicted

A sub-postmistress left homeless when she was falsely accused amid the Post Office scandal has made a donation to the charity that came to her aid.

Rubbina Shaheen, from Shrewsbury, was jailed for a year in 2010 after being wrongfully convicted of false accounting and theft.

She and her husband, Mohamed, lost their home and were forced to live in a van before Shrewsbury Ark came to their aid with blankets, sleeping bags and food.

They have given the charity £2,400 from an interim pay-out they received after her convictions were overturned.

More than 700 branch managers were given criminal convictions when faulty accounting software made it look as though money was missing from their premises.

Mr Shaheen said of the events more than a decade ago: "We were made homeless, we were totally penniless."

He said Shrewsbury Ark helped them at their lowest point and even paid their fuel expenses when they travelled to temporary accommodation in another town.

The couple said they were glad to be able to offer their support to the charity in return.

The Ark is now a day centre for 50 homeless and vulnerable people who receive a cooked breakfast and lunch.

It has reported growing demand and Emily Bell, chair of trustees, said the donation, which was matched by Rotary Clubs, would help "those in real crisis".

She said the money would fund improvements to the kitchen, and she added the charity would like to renovate its car park and also replace a roof.

Mrs Shaheen, who worked at Greenfields Post Office in Shrewsbury, always maintained her innocence.

In December 2019, at the end of a long-running series of civil cases, the Post Office agreed to settle with hundreds of claimants.

In April 2021, the Court of Appeal confirmed Mrs Shaheen was innocent and that it was the Post Office computer system, called Horizon, that was to blame.

She and other victims have received interim compensation of up to £100,000 from the government.

But she said she was still waiting to receive her final compensation package from the Post Office.