Grandmother robbed at gunpoint told by Post Office bosses: 'pay back £11,000'

Devastated Sheila Francis, 67, has suffered repeated panic attacks, insomnia and stress since two masked robbers threatened her with a handgun and a knife.

The raiders struck as she manned the counters at their branch in Lowestoft, Suffolk, on September 7, just 24 hours after she attended her mother's funeral.

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But now the Post Office has blamed the distraught grandmother and her husband Tony, 59, for the loss of cash and instructed them to pay it back.

A letter from the Post Office management accuses the stunned couple of taking "insufficient precautions" to prevent the robbery and says the amount of cash stored in the till drawer exceeded Post Office guidelines.

Mrs Francis, who has helped Tony run the Post Office for eight years, said the day of the robbery was busy because they had been closed the previous day to attend her mother's funeral in Guildford, Surrey.

She said: "I am upset and furious that this has happened. Our customers said it is the most despicable thing they have heard in their lives.

"We have no closure and they are just dragging it all up again." Mrs Francis, who has 11 grandchildren, said the shock demand had already wrecked their family Christmas.

"We still cannot say that it is finished and we have at least another six weeks of this now, so it will be going on all over Christmas," she said.

"It was going to be bad enough without my mother, but now we have this to deal with as well.

"It's unbelievable." Mr Francis said his terrified wife had no choice but to hand over the money and he was outraged to be held responsible.

Tony said: "I'm totally shocked. There is no way I can pay back the money. It's like I have been robbed twice.

"This came completely out of the blue. It brings the whole thing back and they are saying it is all our fault." He stressed: "We are in and out of the safe all the time.

"We have so many procedures manuals and everything works in theory but when it is put into practice it cannot work perfectly all the time."

Mr Francis said he had counted up the day's deposits and put them in the drawer before making a rare trip out when his daughter Sally-Anne offered him a lift to collect his motor-home from a garage.

"If I had not had the call from Sally-Anne the money would have been in the safe by the time the robbery happened," he said.

The Post Office's letter, from agent contracts manager Sue Muddeman, says: "As a result of our investigations into the loss, I consider that insufficient precautions were taken in this respect and that you be held responsible for the loss of £10,911.76.

"The reason being the two large giro business deposits had been accepted 40 and 30 minutes prior to the incident but had not been secured in the safe."

However, the Post Office later announced the claim against the postmaster had been withdrawn.

A Post Office spokesman said: "We can confirm that the issue is now resolved and Post Office Ltd will not be taking any further action in what was clearly a very distressing case.

"We always speak with our people in such cases before making any final decisions."