Jimgriff, does your office have rigidly enforced policy of locking computers whenever you go for a break, to the loo, or to a meeting? If not, and you did not lock your PC, then anyone could have used it. If, as you surmise, some of those with whom you work, 'have it in for you', they may even have arranged a diversion to get you away from your computer to do this.
From my experience, most employers will ask you to sign an IT usage policy, then, having done so, employees are more or less obliged to break the rules just to get their job done. Several companies at which I have worked have taken weeks, and in one case, even months to get a log-in for me. As a result, I was having to share a log-in of an existing employee, with all the risks that entails for both concerned.
Given your situation, you need to plan for every possible outcome. I would suggest:
- Join the Union
- See if your house insurance offers financial support for legal advice
- Speak to the citizen's advice bureau.
- Go through all your household expenditure and have a really serious cull of any non-essential outgoings. You need to explain to the family the seriousness of the situation to the family so they will support you.
- Sell anything you are no longer use or can live without for a while. You need every penny of liquid reserves if you are to keep your house. As is often said, most people are only two mortgage payments away from repossession.
- Get your CV up to date, Ask someone with up to date knowledge of writing CVs to check it for you (e.g. a contractor), or someone at a job agency. Then get it on as many job search engines and employment agencies as possible (I set myself a target of registering 100 CVs when I'm looking).
- Be positive. Read books such as 'The magic of thinking big' and 'How to win friends and influence people'. Some people ridicule these books, but you will find successful people appreciate their value.
- Look upon being suspended from work as a stroke of luck, to give you the time to find a better job and get out of the unpleasant rut you have found yourself in. There are a surprising number of people for whom getting sacked was the best thing that ever happened to them.
- Do your own research into employment law and keep notes. Once your employer realize you can quote multiple specific cases and run rings around them, they will soon be wanting to settle out of court.