Post Office scandal: Swansea sub-postmaster felt suicidal

A sub-postmaster tried to take his own life in the years after an IT glitch led to him being falsely accused of stealing money from his branch.

Mark Kelly, 43, ran the Brondeg Post Office in Swansea from 2003 until 2006.

He said: "It made me feel guilty and depressed. Over the years, I started then to blame myself and I tried to end my life a few times."

The Post Office said it was "sincerely sorry" for how victims and their families had been affected.

Mr Kelly was one of more than 700 sub-postmasters and mistresses accused of theft, fraud and false accounting between 2000 and 2014.

The inquiry has moved to Cardiff to hear from several witnesses who were affected by the Post Office IT scandal.

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"I can't really socialise as much as I used to and I can't actually manage some tasks - I can't handle stress," he added.

Problems within the Post Office's computer system Horizon meant it looked like money was missing from branches - in many cases tens of thousands of pounds.

Mark Kelly (pictured with his support dog Gizmo) now runs a mobile phone repair and accessory shop

Mr Kelly took over the running of the Brondeg Post Office in 2003 from his parents and first noticed problems with balancing his accounts shortly after an armed robbery at the branch in 2004.

He says he went to the Post Office believing he had worked out how the glitches were happening in the IT system but said the company "didn't want to know" and wanted to "bury it".

Mr Kelly was threatened with prosecution for theft and false accounting as well as his wife Olga, who also worked at the branch.

He eventually resigned, losing his business and then his house, which he told the inquiry also meant he and his wife decided not to start a family.

Describing how he was being held under the Mental Health Act under the care of his doctor for six months when the Post Office tried to carry out their first interview with him, he said he "completely blanked out" and his solicitor said the interview should stop.

He told the inquiry that he had never had problems with his mental health before the issues started with the Post Office, adding that while his mental health did improve, problems remained with anxiety and depressions.

"I am very anxious now. I get stressed quite easily. I've got PTSD and I keep on thinking that I caused a lot of these problems for other people," he said.

"I became quite suicidal and I did try to do it.

"We originally hoped to keep the office going and we would start a family - it was a four-bedroom house. But after the breakdown, we lost the house from it all, we thought we couldn't have a family 'cause we had no house and no stability."

As he started to hear that other sub-postmasters and mistresses were in trouble, it took him to his lowest point when he tried to kill himself, but then heard about others who had gone through the same thing.

"But then I heard on the radio about the High Court hearing and that was when I understood that I wasn't at fault, but for years I carried that it was my fault," he said.

Mark, who now runs a mobile phone repair and accessory shop in Neath Market, hopes giving evidence to the inquiry will "help everyone".

A £22,000 shortfall was reported by the Horizon IT system at Tim Brentnall's branch

Tim Brentnall, from Roch in Pembrokeshire, told the inquiry the scandal led to the breakdown of his marriage because of "trust issues".

He was prosecuted in 2010 after a £22,000 shortfall was discovered at his branch, but his conviction was overturned last summer.

Mr Brentnall told the inquiry his sister, who ran a local hotel at the time, was also affected because "people tarred her with the same brush".

And he said that in the years that followed his conviction, there was a "whispering campaign" in the community with people calling him a "thief" and a "fraudster".

Following the overturning of his convictions, he is now working in the Roch shop again, but said the business would never recover financially with its turnover down from £500,000 to £100,000.

The 40-year-old told BBC Wales he hoped speaking to the inquiry would be a chance for people to "tell their individual stories" which, in his case, was tinged with anger.

"I hate the Post Office," he said.

"It's hard to hate an organisation but I still have really bitter feelings towards the people who investigated us, prosecuted us and perpetuated this lie.

"When I was interviewed, they told me I was the only person having trouble with the Horizon, they must have told that to numerous people. How they can live with themselves is beyond me."

The inquiry is being held in Cardiff until Wednesday.

Mark Kelly ran the Brondeg Post Office from 2003 and first noticed problems the following year

A Post Office spokesman said: "The Post Office is 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.

"The inquiry's hearings enable many of those who were most deeply affected by Post Office's past failings to voice their experiences and their testimonies must and will ensure all lessons are learned so that such events can never happen again.

"In addressing the past, our first priority is that full, fair and final compensation is provided and we are making good progress.

"Post Office is openly and transparently assisting the inquiry in its important work to determine what went wrong in the past and to provide, as much as possible, closure for those affected."

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