The widow of a subpostmaster who took his own life has said she blames the Post Office for her husband's death.
Jayakanthan Sivasubramaniam, 35, killed himself hours after two Post Office investigators raided his branch in Putney, West London, took files and locked him out on March 4, 2005. The Post Office alleged that £179,000 went missing from the cash machine and the safe.
His death is the fifth known suicide associated with the Post Office scandal, which saw more than 900 subpostmasters wrongly prosecuted after the faulty Horizon IT software made it look like they were stealing money.
Speaking for the first time about the case, his wife Gowri told ITV News: "There were two officers. I think the police also came. And I asked them, 'where is he? Where is my husband?' And they said he is under audit. Under investigation."
"He panicked, that's the best word. He got scared," she said.
Describing the moment she found her husband in the attic of their home, she said: "Finally we thought to kick the door [down] and we went inside. We went upstairs and found him. For three days I didn't sleep. For three days I was crying."
Asked who was responsible for what happened, she said: "I think the Post Office is to blame."
Mum-of-two Gowri moved back to her native Sri Lanka to try to rebuild her life but has since returned to the UK, settling in Liverpool. When the true extent of the Post Office scandal became clear, she tried to seek justice for her late husband. But after three years of wrangling, her compensation claim was rejected.
The Post Office panel admitted it had "no reason to doubt that the audit and what it uncovered had a profound impact on Mr Jayakanthan and resulted in him sadly taking his own life". But it concluded: "The discrepancies identified during the audit cannot on the balance of probabilities be presumed to be Horizon shortfalls."
Gowri urged the Post Office to provide evidence of the Horizon system in her husband's branch. She went ont: "It's cost me a lot. Personal. Financial. I'm a widow. And I can't change that."
Labour MP Kevan Jones, who sits on the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board, said: "This case is an absolutely tragic one, but one of too many unfortunately. The Post Office have either destroyed records or in some cases just lost them. Then, we should err on the side of the victim and that's what certainly should happen in this case."
A Post Office spokesperson said: "We recognise that the claim made relates to truly tragic circumstances. Every single claim is assessed by an independent panel before it recommends an outcome, and that offer can rightly be disputed and re-examined.
"We are deeply sorry for the pain and suffering which the events of the Horizon IT Scandal have brought to so many people, their families, and friends."