Wrongly jailed post-office clerk breaks down as she tells inquiry about suicide attempts

Tracy Felstead, 39, from Telford, also told the inquiry how her 15-year-old son had recently said he was glad he did not have the same surname as her.

Miss Felstead is one of 72 former post-office workers who had their convictions overturned on appeal last year after it was revealed a faulty computer system may have been to blame. She was jailed for six months in 2001.

Mother-of-three Miss Felstead, of Bournside Drive, Brookside, was giving evidence to a public inquiry led by retired High Court judge Sir Wyn Williams.

She said the ordeal has continued to affect her mental health ever since, and contributed to the break-up of her marriage in 2015.

Miss Felstead said she had to move house on her release from jail because of hostility from neighbours.

The inquiry also heard that a forensic accountant hired to give evidence during her trial had since come forward to say he had been denied crucial information by the Post Office that could have affected the outcome of the case.

Miss Felstead told the inquiry that there had been problems with shortfalls on the tills from the time she started work at Camberwell Post Office in London at the age of 18.

At that point, the amounts were relatively small, and caused little concern among the staff, she said.

She said that even when she reported a discrepancy of £1,300 on her till, her manager did not seem unduly concerned.

"I had given it to the branch manager, said what had happened, they said it would rectify itself," Miss Felstead told the inquiry.

But when she returned from a holiday with her family she was told there had been a shortfall of more than £11,500 on her till.

Miss Felstead said the branch manager told her there was no cause to worry, and she continued working on the till.

But she said when two Post Office investigators came into the branch to interview her two weeks later, the mood changed.

"They asked me where the money had gone, what I had done with the money," she said.

"Never at any stage was it 'what do you think has happened?', 'was there any reason for this to happen?'. It was very much I was being asked constantly what have I done with the money, where has it gone. I was being accused from day one."

Miss Felstead said she was suspended with immediate effect.

Two weeks later she voluntarily attended Peckham police station, where she was interviewed under caution.

"It was horrendous, the only way I can explain it is I felt bullied, I was a young girl, I was in a police station, I couldn't justify where this money had gone because I didn't know where the money had gone," she said.

Miss Felstead said she was asked if she had paid for a family holiday to the Dominican Republic to mark her parents' wedding anniversary. Eventually her solicitor told her not to answer any further questions.

Miss Felstead said she was asked several times if she could prove her innocence.

No money was found in her bank accounts and no effort was made to search her home, she said.

She broke down in tears as she told the inquiry how she had twice tried to kill herself by overdose in the run-up to her trial.

This led to her being sectioned and detained at the Princess Royal psychiatric hospital in Bromley, where she received psychotherapy medication.

Miss Felstead said that after her conviction was quashed last year, she was contacted by forensic accountant Michael Turner who was hired at her trial to give evidence, but was never called.

He told her he had raised misgivings about the case with the Post Office and Fujitsu, and asked for an item of documentation.

"He was then told that would cost £20,000. We would have to pay the Post Office and Fujitsu to get that documentation, that wasn't possible.

"That was only brought to my attention last year when Mr Turner came forward."

The hearing continues.