A RAYLEIGH mum lost her home, business, and contact with her children after she was wrongfully accused of stealing from the Post Office.

The account is one of more than 700 that have been heard by a wide-ranging inquiry into the failings of a faulty computer system installed by the Post Office.

Suzanne Palmer, 64, was postmistress at the Grange Post Office in London Road. However, she went bankrupt while fighting to clear her name after a court battle with the Post Office.

Mrs Palmer told the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry in January 2022: “My life was destroyed by the Post Office.”

She was suspended in October 2005, despite paying £19,700 to cover shortfalls caused by the Post Office’s faulty computer system.

A jury acquitted Mrs Palmer in 2007, but the Post Office still terminated her employment.

Mrs Palmer’s home was repossessed, and she and her husband were made homeless.

She said: “Losing the post office felt like a bereavement. We had a lovely five-bedroom home. Now we live in a studio flat above a drug dealer.

“If it were not for the events that occurred, my future plans were to continue running the post office and newsagents until retirement. I loved my business and never wanted anything else. Therefore, I estimate my loss of earnings is in excess of £1million.

Mrs Palmer’s son, Kevin Palmer, from Benfleet, left his banking job to take over running of the post office after his mother’s suspension. However, their relationship broke down due to the stress of their situation.

He told the inquiry in February 2022: “I gave up everything I had built in my career to help my mum. I even bought the post office from her to help financially.”

Mr Palmer was investigated over an alleged shortfall of £62,000 and resigned in 2016.

He added: “The Post Office not only destroyed my finances, but they also completely destroyed my relationship with my mother.”

However, some senior Post Office staff had attempted to vouch for the sub-postmasters, raising concerns over the faulty software.

Trevor Rollason, former Basildon area manager for the Post Office, was involved with the development of the Horizon computer system. He says the software was “not tested properly and contained glitches”.

In his statement to the inquiry in January last year, he said: “I knew my sub-postmasters and it should have been said to bosses, ‘it is not right, these people have been here 30 years and have not taken £35,000’. Auditors and senior managers should have known. Their incompetence let this happen.”