Saturday night saw one of the biggest events in the musical calendar with the BRIT Awards, which aired on ITV during the prime weekend spot.
While stars famed for their musical talent filled the O2 Arena, other guests were also involved in the big night, and one of the memorable moments came from one of the real-life victims of the Post Office scandal, Jo Hamilton.
Former sub-postmistress Hamilton was impacted by the Horizon IT scandal which has dominated headlines recently. Her story, as well as other victims’ experiences, were brought to light in ITV’s recent drama, Mr Bates vs The Post Office.
Hamilton became one of the first people to step on stage as she presented singer-songwriter Raye with her first award, and she took the opportunity to urge people to continue their support of the victims.
Raye won big on the night, dominating the stage with her performance as well as her collection of six awards.
For her first, Hamilton, who was falsely accused of stealing £36,000 from a Hampshire Post Office, took to the stage.
Hamilton’s story was recently shared in the ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office
ITV
She was joined by Monica Dolan, who portrayed her in the hard-hitting drama as she presented one of the first awards of the night.
The 66-year-old gave a candid speech to the audience as she made clear herself and other victims hadn’t yet received compensation following the scandal.
“I want to thank everyone in the country for the love and the support they have given the postmasters,” she began.
She went on to add:: “Please can you keep on supporting us because, despite what the government says, they’re not paying the postmasters.”
Raye was presented with her first award by Jo Hamilton
ITV
Back in 2006, the mother-of-two was prosecuted over the false accusations and was urged to plead guilty to false accounting despite doing nothing wrong.
The charge affected her life, with Hamilton forced to take on a cleaning job, mortgage her house twice and borrow money to pay back what she “owed”.
In 2021, her conviction was overturned when it was revealed more than 700 sub-postmasters and mistresses had been falsely blamed for missing funds when in fact the fault lay with an accounting system.
Hamilton then went on to present singer Raye with her Song of the Year award for Escapism.
Hamilton spoke up for the victims of the Post Office scandal during the BRIT Awards
ITV
The 26-year-old went on to smash records at the night, taking home a total of six awards and beating off some stiff competition throughout the evening.
The ceremony broke tradition by airing on a weekend rather than its usual weekday slot – a change not all fans were impressed by.
Many viewers called for the event to go back to its usual weekday air time, taking to social media to complain that the annual event “didn’t feel right”.
