Former Walsall postmistress takes to Britain's Got Talent stage with choir of Post Office Scandal victims
A Walsall woman who was a victim of the Post Office Horizon Scandal has taken to the stage of Britain's Got Talent as part of a choir of other former employees who were wrongly accused or convicted.
Watch more of our videos on ShotsTV.com
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Jess Kaur said she suffered a mental breakdown after she was accused of stealing £11,000 while running Lazy Hill Post Office in Aldridge, leading to her being taken to court in 2009 over the accusations.
The case was later thrown out, but the damage had already been done. Jess suffered a 'complete mental breakdown' and even attempted to take her life.
The mother was sectioned and taken to hospital, where she tried to kill herself again.
She told ITV News that, during her time in hospital, doctors apply electroconvulsive therapy to her brain and she lost all memory of her childhood.
"Even until today I'm still on a lot of medication. I might not look like I'm ill to a lot of people but I'm suffering very badly with PTSD," Ms Kaur said.
"If I walk past a Post Office I feel sick. This was my life, it was going to be for my children's future and they've taken that away from me."
Between 1999 and 2015, the Post Office prosecuted 736 sub-postmasters and mistresses based on information from Horizon which made it look as though money was missing from their sites.
In total, 236 postmasters and postmistresses were sent to prison, leading to bankruptcies and multiple suicides.
It was only in 2021 that the Court of Appeal overturned dozens of wrongful convictions.
Since then an ITV series was produced, titled Mr Bates vs the Post Office, with actors portraying four postmasters who were accused, including Ms Kaur.
The Aldridge mum has also since joined a 40-strong choir made up of other victims of the Horizon Scandal, taking to the Britain's Got Talent stage on Friday night and moving the audience to tears with a rendition of 'Falling Down' by Will and the People.
Jess described them as "a very big family" united to let the world know "we're all going to get through this fight".
Their performance was met with a standing ovation from the audience and judges, who gave unanimous approval to advance the group onto the next round.
Bruno Tonioli praised them for demonstrating “the power of music to unite and keep positive."
Simon Cowell added: "I really hope you win this battle because it was disgusting how you were all treated, I mean seriously, disgusting.
"You're going to win because the public are behind you."
