Former Lakenheath High Street postmistress, of Bury St Edmunds, sings on Britain’s Got Talent with choir of Post Office scandal victims

A former Lakenheath postmistress has spoken of her emotional experience singing on Britain’s Got Talent as part of a choir of Post Office scandal victims.

Lisa Skinner, 48, who ran the Post Office in Lakenheath High Street from 2013 until last year, performed with group Hear Our Voice on the national TV show on Saturday, March 1.

Members are victims of the Horizon IT scandal, which involved the Post Office pursuing thousands of innocent subpostmasters for apparent financial shortfalls caused by faults in accounting software system Horizon.

Between 1999 and 2015, more than 900 subpostmasters were convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting based on faulty Horizon data.

Lisa, of Bury St Edmunds, was impacted by the scandal but her problems were resolved. To help support other victims, she became involved with the Post Office choir in October through social media.

Hear Our Voice is fronted by Will Rendle, who wrote the song 'Falling Down', which the choir performed on the Britain’s Got Talent stage.

Lisa, who is the lead singer of melodic power metal band Sorceress of Sin, said: “I was blown away by it.

“It was so amazingly emotional and powerful. You can’t get a feeling like that anywhere else and as a singer, it was a dream come true too.

“A lot of the people in the choir have never sung on a stage like that so some were really scared.

“I was really glad to be able to support the group because the public don’t realise how many people have been fighting and are still fighting the impacts of this terrible scandal.”

The choir’s performance was met with a standing ovation from the audience and judges, who gave unanimous approval for the group to advance to the next round.

Lisa’s sister, Karen, also of Bury, travelled with her to meet up with the choir ahead of their BGT performance and they were shocked by stories from the other former postmasters.

“We all had dinner together the night before and I’ve never heard some of the stories that were shared,” Lisa said.

“My sister and I were in dismay and in tears at some of the awful things people have been through. It’s truly horrific.

“But it was so uplifting to then come together and perform the song. I’ve now made lots of new friends and there are some positive things in the pipeline.”