Moment daughter of bankrupt Post Office victim Lee Castleton breaks down in ... trends now
The daughter of a bankrupt Post Office victim broke down in tears as she revealed how she was bullied at school when her father was wrongly accused of stealing £25,000.
Former subpostmaster Lee Castleton was pursued through the courts by the Post Office after the dodgy Horizon system, built by Fujitsu, made it appear as though money was missing from his outlet in the seaside town of Bridlington in East Yorkshire.
He was left 'traumatised' and had to sell his shop and home when he was ordered to pay back money and legal costs to the tune of £321,000 despite doing nothing wrong.
The ordeal had a heavy impact on his family, including his daughter, Millie-Jo, who had to contend with bullying at school as cruel classmates chucked bottles at her and spat on her head.
She broke down in tears today as she recounted how the scandal had wreaked havoc with her mental health and her relationship with money for the last two decades, as she described the internal turmoil she goes through when simply going to buy a £25 pair of jeans.
Millie-Jo Castleton was bullied by her classmates when her father was wrongly accused of stealing £25,000 from his Post Office in Bridlington, East Yorkshire
Mr Castleton and his wife Lisa were forced to shut their shop and sell their home to cover legal fees
She pleaded on BBC Radio 4's Broadcasting House show this morning for those responsible to own up as she paid tribute to her 'heroic' father.
Becoming emotional with her voice breaking, Millie-Jo said: 'I have a very complicated relationship with money because one of the big things for our family was that our father was taken to court and was essentially accused of stealing this money and the court bankrupted him knowing full well that he had not done anything.'
Millie-Jo then broke down in tears before composing herself as she explained how she has been left feeling paranoid about having enough money in the bank.
'I'll go into a shop and let's just say a pair of jeans are more than £25 there's a little alarm bell that goes off in my head like "do I really need them? Am I going to get them today?".
'And more often than not I will walk away from things because my head is just dinging about finances.'
Millie-Jo spoke about her battles with an eating disorder and her refusal to eat was a way of trying to take some form of control.
And she directed her anger at those at the Post Office and Fujitsu who had 'drove people to their absolute limits' as she demanded those culpable to 'just be honest'.
Proud parents Mr and Mrs Castleton and their son Cameron attend Millie-Jo's graduation at York Minster
Mr Castleton, pictured here on Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg today, said victims of the scandal had been 'traumatised'
Will Mellor plays the former postmaster in the hit drama on the scandal which saw more than 700 Post Office staff falsely prosecuted based on erroneous data from the firm's Horizon computer system, which was developed by Fujitsu
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced last week
