Portland postmistress became recluse after Post Office scandal

Sue Beacock, 60, of Portland, said she became a recluse for 10 years because she felt so ashamed and upset after she was sacked from being postmistress at Easton Post Office in 2012. 

She has shared her experience in the wake of the screening of the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which has led to fresh public anger about the miscarriage of justice.

Ms Beacock also had to sell her house to pay back the £30,000 loan she took out to acquire the post office and paid back £5,000 missing from the accounts from her own savings.

She was wrongly accused of taking £5,000 from the accounts - the result of faulty Horizon IT accounting software making it look as though money was missing from Post Office branches across the country. 

Her turmoil came at the same time she was diagnosed with cancer and she said she was 'almost happy' to have been seriously ill, so people thought her departure was illness-related.

Ms Beacock said her mother died 'disappointed in her', never knowing the truth.

She said: "The day the Post Office auditor came in, I said to him on the doorstep 'I can tell you now, there is £5,000 missing'.

"I was suspended straight away. My mum took over temporarily and kept the Easton Post Office open until Christmas.

"Then the following March I was sacked for false accounting.

"I never once believed it was a member of staff, I don't believe we were that stupid that we were making these mistakes, but you never know. The two girls who worked for me at the Post Office lost their jobs.

"In November, I went to the doctor with a lump in my throat. They didn't know if it was caused by the stress as I was depressed at the time.

"In some ways, I was glad I had cancer because I thought that's why people thought I got out of the Post Office.

"My mum would say 'I knew you couldn't make a go of it', and was just so disappointed in me. 

"My mum died in 2016. She died disappointed in me and that's the one thing that no amount of money can pay back.

"My biggest thing is my mum not knowing the truth. Our lives could have been so different.

"I have lost the last ten years of my life with this and the cancer I became a recluse. I always said I was living in my coffin.

"You went from being somebody to nobody just like that. I didn't go out, my weight blossomed and I just sat on my couch."

Sue Beacock and Julie Good pictures at the re-opening of the Easton Post Office in 2009 (Image: Finbarr Webster)

Sue Beacock, right with staff, Helen Milnes, and Julie Good (Image: Finbarr Webster)

Ms Beacock says she would spend hours in the vault with staff member Julie Good trying to account for the shortfall, looking over the transactions to try and make sense of it.

"When I talked to the helpline all they said was 'you have the pay the difference'. 'If you have a shortfall it's your responsibility to put it right.' I maxed out two credit cards."

Julie Good, 59, assistant cashier, lost her job when Easton Post Office closed.

She said: "It made me feel incompetent. We used to spend hours looking back trying to find the problem.

"Being such a small community, mud sticks. But also you feel like you were letting the community down.

Read more: Easton post office on Portland to close

Read more: Emotional farewell as Fortuneswell Post Office finally shuts shop

"How many people has it really happened to? I only knew when the Post Office sent me a letter four years ago saying I might have been mixed up in this.

"So I went off and did get compensation last December of £117,000. Someone needs to be held accountable for this."

Read more: Wrongly accused Dorset postmistress lived 'in fear' of police for ten years

Since receiving a pay-out from the Post Office Ms Beacock has taken over the Islander Youth and Community Centre.

"The Islanders brought me back to life. It brought me back into the community where I love being. Now I can tell people I was part of the scandal. You can hold your head out and say 'it wasn't me'. You feel vindicated.

"The scandal cost me my 50s so I have been living it all in my 60s."