'Post Office IT scandal destroyed my health'
PA MediaA woman thought to be the oldest victim of the Post Office's Horizon IT scandal said the ordeal "destroyed" her health.
Betty Brown, 92, from County Durham, ran the Annfield Plain branch with her late husband Oswall in the 1990s and early 2000s and they spent more than £50,000 of their savings to cover shortfalls that did not exist.
Ms Brown was speaking on the day the first volume of the report from the official inquiry into the scandal was published - revealing the scale of the suffering caused to hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongly prosecuted over money said to be missing from their accounts.
The Post Office apologised "unreservedly" and said it would carefully consider the report.
Overseen by Sir Wyn Williams, it found the situation had a "disastrous" impact on those accused with at least 59 people having contemplated suicide at various points.
Ten attempted to take their own lives and more than 13 people may have killed themselves due to the scandal.
Recalling her own situation, Ms Brown said: "We had a nice office, nice atmosphere, nice customers and everything was fine, no problem.
"And then we were told about this wonderful advancement in technology and we would get a system put in called Horizon that would half the workload.
"Then the very first night, the balance was £500 short, but they thought something had been missed in the accounts or whatever and that was just let go.
"Then it began eventually that there were so many mistakes in the system that it was concerning, and these losses were coming out in amounts of £1,500, £1,600 every week, and we were having to put this money in and make it good because that's what you sign up for."
Ms Brown said the ordeal caused her to lose her voice while the anxiety disrupted her husband's cancer treatment.
He died a year after they sold the post office, which Ms Brown said they felt forced to do.
"The stress was unbelievable," she said. "You would go to bed at night and you couldn't sleep."
Ms Brown and her husband moved away to Consett after the ordeal, saying there had been a "stigma" and that it forced them to keep "a low profile".
When people asked the couple what they had previously done for work, they would evade giving an answer, she said.
Ms Brown was one of the original 555 victims who took part in the landmark group legal action led by Alan Bates against the Post Office.
She is campaigning for full compensation after originally being offered less than a third of what she had claimed for.
Earlier this year she said she received a new offer of 60%, which she also rejected.
Praising the report, she said Sir Wyn had "done a wonderful job".
She added: "He has felt the pain, he's felt the anxiety, he's felt the agony, he's felt everything that sub-postmasters felt and he has been able to bring that with all his skill into a meaningful book.
"I hope that the Post Office will take this on board."
Chris Head, who became the youngest sub-postmaster when he took over the branch in West Boldon, South Tyneside, at the age of 18 was falsely accused of stealing more than £80,000 in 2006 before the criminal case against him was dropped.
He said he was concerned about how the government would respond to the report.
"It's a great day for everybody being here listening to it and obviously being vindicated.
"The problem is, will it be acted upon? And that is a huge concern because it'll take the government many months to respond to these recommendations."
PA MediaMr Head believes the Post Office "hasn't addressed the wrongs of the past" and warned there was "no trust".
He added: "I think you can't get closure until people are held accountable for their actions. But at the same time that is so slow.
"So what we need to do in the meantime is get this redress paid out to people, get it as full and fair as what has been promised, and allow people the opportunity to try and rebuild their lives while that accountability process takes place."
A Post Office spokesperson said: "The inquiry has brought to life the devastating stories of those impacted by the Horizon Scandal.
"Their experiences represent a shameful period in our history.
"Today, we apologise unreservedly for the suffering which Post Office caused to postmasters and their loved ones.
"We will carefully consider the report and its recommendations."