Sub-postmistress feels guilt over Post Office flaw PTSD

Jennifer O'Dell was wrongly accused of stealing more than £9,600 due to a computer system flaw

A former Post Office sub-postmistress said she felt guilt over her post-traumatic stress disorder after being wrongly accused of stealing £9,600.

Jennifer O'Dell, who ran a post office from her home in Cambridgeshire, said she felt "awful" talking about her condition "when you think about people who have been through wars".

She is among hundreds who were wrongly accused of crimes due to a flaw in a computer system called Horizon.

"It was awful," she said.

Between 1999 and 2015, 700 sub-postmasters and postmistresses - self-employed people who run Post Office branches - were prosecuted for offences such as theft, fraud and false accounting, with some going to prison and others even taking their own lives.

Mrs O'Dell ran her post office in Great Staughton, near St Neots, from November 2000 until her suspension in January 2010, when she was accused of stealing £9,617.

She said people in the village generated gossip, with one rumour suggesting she had stolen up to £500,000.

Jennifer O'Dell broke down in tears as she gave evidence at a public inquiry into the scandal in 2022

Speaking to BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, she said: "Some people crossed the road if they saw me walking round. The only thing that helped me was that I knew I'd done nothing wrong.

"You certainly find out who your friends are."

She said her post-traumatic stress disorder was brought on by "the anguish" she felt she had brought to her family.

"I couldn't sleep," she said. "I couldn't eat properly. I'd have night terrors where I'd be shouting and screaming where my husband would have to gently wake me up. I'm still doing that."

More on the Post Office scandal

• Why were hundreds of Post Office workers prosecuted?

• How Post Office drama shone light on scandal

• Key questions for Fujitsu on the Post Office scandal

Following her suspension, the sub-postmistress said she went to several hearings with Post Office bosses in what she described as a "kangaroo court".

Mrs O'Dell said that the ordeal had meant her "understanding of human beings has completely gone out of the window".

She said: "How could all those people behave in such a way? I just can't believe it, incredible."

In 2022, Mrs O'Dell told a public inquiry into the scandal that it almost caused her to take her own life.

The Post Office declined to comment while the public inquiry was ongoing, but previously said it was "sincerely sorry for the impact of the Horizon scandal on the lives of victims and their families and we are in no doubt about the human cost".