A former post office manager has told a public inquiry of his battle with depression after being wrongly convicted of stealing £65,000.

William Graham, a 54 year old medical courier who used to run a branch in Riverhead near Sevenoaks, was originally sentenced in January 2011 for the concealment of losses.

However in April 2021, he was one of 39 other former Post Office employees to have their convictions quashed by the Court of Appeal in London.

This came after the Horizon IT system installed by the Post Office falsely suggested there were cash shortfalls.

At the International Dispute Resolution Centre in London, Mr Graham described how the 10-year struggle to clear his name affected him and his family.

Before the scandal the Newcastle native described himself as: “Happy and go lucky.”

This changed in 2009, when he was interviewed by police over the losses and later summoned to Maidstone Crown Court on a charges of theft and two counts of false accounting.

In 2011 Mr Graham was given a suspended prison sentence.

He told the inquiry today : “I was diagnosed with depression.

“I just felt worthless.

“I had a wife and children at home, I couldn’t provide for them.

“I had to put a facade towards them (his children) of being in control.”

“When in fact when they had gone to bed or to go to school, I didn’t know what I was going to do.”

Mr Graham described some of the financial pressures the ordeal placed on him as well, adding: “The mortgage company was threatening to repossess the house.

“They had a court date to repossess the house.”

He told how he had to “Beg, borrow and steal” to pay off his £3,600 court costs, before telling the hearing he regretted the choice of the last word

Mr Graham called for justice for himself and other post office workers who were collared in such a stressful experience.

“I just want the Post Office to stand up and say 'We knew there was a problem, this is when it started, this is what we didn’t do, this is what we should've done' and get justice for people who have gone through this pain.”

The inquiry was established to gather evidence around the failings of the Horizon IT system and how staff were wrongly blamed.