Former sub-postmistress Shazia Saddiq was a single mum trying to provide for her two children when a false accusation turned her world upside down.
The 38-year-old was running the Ryton Post Office in Gateshead and Westgate Hill Post Office in Newcastle when she says the Post Office accused her of stealing £40,000.
Shazia, from Scotswood, Newcastle, said she received a call from Post Office officials on October 26, 2016, who told her she was suspended for 'stealing' money from the Westgate Hill Post Office.
Go here for the latest news live from Newcastle city centre
"They came in like the Mafia and took the keys off me and closed it down," she said.
"It was absolutely horrendous. I didn't expect it."
Shazia said the ATM in the branch was linked to the Horizon system and it would give false readings which led the Post Office to accuse her of taking the money.
But when Shazia tried to explain the fault in the system to the Post Office she said, "they wouldn't listen".
Just days after she was accused, Shazia felt forced to leave her home above the Westgate Hill Post Office after being attacked in the street.
"Me and the kids had to flee in the night because I got attacked with flour and eggs outside of the Post Office," she said.
She added: "You are the pillar of the community and you felt embarrassed, guilty, and ashamed."
Although Shazia was never charged and prosecuted by the Post Office, she says there was a period when she feared she was going to be arrested for a crime she didn't commit.
The impact on her life has been devastating.
She has spent the last six years in Oxford with her family, unable to face returning home because she believes the Post Office accusation ruined her reputation in the community.
"I lost two businesses, my home, and my life was left in wreck and ruin," Shazia said.
"I nearly ended it as it got too much.
"I was carrying the weight of a divorce, being a single mum, and then to be accused of thieving when I never took a penny and was always proud to work for them.
"It was an awful time."
But Shazia was not the only sub-postmistress to be accused of fraud by the Post Office.
More than 700 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses (SPMs) who were wrongfully convicted between 2000 and 2014, based on information from the Horizon IT system, installed and maintained by Fujitsu.
In December 2019 a High Court judge ruled that Horizon contained a number of “bugs, errors and defects” and there was a “material risk” that shortfalls in Post Office branch accounts were caused by the system.
In 2019, a group of 555 sub-postmasters successfully challenged the Post Office over the Horizon system in the High Court.
The Government has since opened a fund to compensate those wrongly convicted and a public inquiry is under way.
The inquiry, which is expected to run for the rest of this year, will establish whether the Post Office knew about faults in the IT system and will also ask how staff were made to take the blame.
Now, Shazia says she is moving forward and hopes that by telling her story she will gain closure on a chapter of her life she describes as a "nightmare".
Shazia, who is training to be an accountant, is seeking compensation for her ordeal and has submitted a statement to the public inquiry about her experience.
"I am in a good place mentally and hope to get some compensation," she said.
“In my opinion Horizon online is nothing but a glorified calculator, certainly not accounting software.”
The Post Office said its priority is to compensate victims affected by the Horizon scandal.
A Post Office spokeswoman said: "Whilst it is not appropriate to comment on any individual cases, Post Office is in no doubt of the human cost of the Horizon scandal and we are doing all we can to fairly address this for victims.
"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 priority is that full, fair and final compensation is provided and we are making progress.
"We have made interim payments of £100,000 to each of the majority of people whose convictions have been overturned and we are working on final settlements as swiftly as possible.
"Separately, for other postmasters, we have made offers to more than a third who applied to the Historical Shortfall Scheme, with most of those already accepted and paid.
"For people who were part of the jointly agreed £57.75m settlement in the Group Litigation, we believe that the proportion of it - £46m - that was directed to their funders and legal advisors has created unfairness.
"This came to light through media reports and we have consistently and publicly urged the Government to address it, as Post Office does not have the means to make further compensation payments in addition to the settlement already agreed by both parties."
