Staffordshire sub-postmaster 'left suicidal' by Horizon scandal

Geeta Doal says she and husband Charanjit Doal had to sell their house in trying to tackle bogus losses, which led her to attempt suicide more than once

A former sub-postmaster says she attempted suicide after having to sell her home to try to tackle bogus cash losses in the Post Office scandal.

Geeta Doal got no help when Horizon, the faulty IT system, began showing money was missing at her branch.

Her family, of Wheaton Aston, Staffordshire, had thousands taken from their income to meet the shortfalls from 2016, she said.

Post Office (PO) said it wanted to "right the wrongs of the past."

Ms Doal said they closed the branch for a week in 2018, to try to get PO bosses' attention and send someone to investigate the financial shortfalls.

They were told their accounts could only be audited if they re-opened the branch and, like so many other sub-postmasters, they were told they were only ones with an issue, said Ms Doal.

The shop no longer offers Post Office services

A "huge discrepancy" was then uncovered, and they were told to pay it back via their monthly income, Ms Doal said.

In trying to deal with the discrepancy, they had to sell their home, were left "mentally drained," and Ms Doal said she attempted suicide more than once.

"It shouldn't take a TV show to highlight what people have been through," she said referring to the ITV series Mr Bates v The Post Office, which dramatised the story of sub-postmasters falsely accused of stealing money.

"I'm one of the lucky ones, thankfully I wasn't prosecuted, but people have lost lives."

The Hollies Village Store no longer offers PO services, and Ms Doal said she has never had an apology for what they went through.

'Interim payments'

"I hate them," she said of PO, which said it did not comment on individual cases.

In a statement, it said it was deeply aware of the human cost of the scandal and was doing all it could to right the wrongs of the past, as far as that was possible.

Both PO and the government were committed to providing full, fair and final compensation for the people affected, it added.

"Offers of more than £138m have been made to around 2,700 postmasters, the majority of which have been agreed and paid," the statement continued.

"Interim payments continue to be made in other cases which have not yet been resolved."

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