Watch emotional moment Britain’s Got Talent judges meet choir formed of Post Office scandal victims
THE Britain’s Got Talent judges are left emotional this evening as they meet a choir made up of people who were affected by the Post Office scandal.
In moving scenes, Simon Cowell tells the group – called Hear Our Voice – that what happened to them was ‘disgusting’.
As they take to the stage, choir member Tim tells the judges: “We only meet up when we were going through terrible times, and we wanted to put something together that gave us some joy.”
Looking very sympathetic, Simon commented: “What happened I think was just shocking and I really hope that you win this battle because it was disgusting how you were all treated, I mean seriously, disgusting.”
Another member, Jess said: “We’re just a very big family that have got together to let our voices out and let the world know that we’re all going to get through this fight.”
Simon added: “And win.”
The group will appear alongside a series of other acts on tonight’s show trying to impress Simon, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and Bruno Tonioli.
The Post Office scandal is widely considered to be one of the most shocking miscarriages of justice in UK history.
The lives of hundreds of sub-postmasters were ruined when computer system glitches led them to be wrongly accused of theft, false accounting and fraud.
The harrowing story was recently retold in the ITV drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, which has left viewers appalled and astonished.
It traces the scandal back to 1999, when the Post Office first brought in an accounting system called Horizon, and follows the lives that were ruined in its wake.
Between its launch and 2015, more than 700 sub-postmasters were prosecuted based on information provided by Horizon, which was later found to have “bugs, errors and defects”.
Meanwhile victims were forced to declare bankruptcy, pay off sizeable sums out of their own pocket, sell their homes, and some even spent time in prison.
Wronged sub-postmaster Alan Bates and five others led a campaign to highlight the miscarriage of justice and took the Post Office to court on behalf of 555 claimants.
In 2019 the High Court ruled in their favour and found Horizon was “not robust”. They ordered the Post Office to pay out more than £58million.
Of the 736 prosecutions identified, 83 of the convictions had been overturned by 2022 – but justice didn’t come fast enough for some, including four sub-postmasters who took their own lives and 33 who died.
Britain’s Got Talent continues tonight at 7pm on ITV1 and ITVX.