Leanne Mitchell wins first UK Voice (From Wharfedale Observer)

Leanne Mitchell wins first UK Voice

11:01pm Saturday 2nd June 2012 in National News © Press Association 2013

Leanne Mitchell has won the first series of BBC singing competition The Voice.

Mitchell, mentored by Sir Tom Jones, looked stunned after the result of the public vote was announced in Saturday's live show and said: "I am starting to believe in myself."

She beat Tyler James, mentored by Will.i.am, and Bo Bruce, mentored by Danny O'Donoghue. Vince Kidd, coached by Jessie J, was eliminated earlier in the show.

After the result was announced, Sir Tom said: "This confirms that there is justice in this world."

Mitchell, who has won a recording contract, first impressed the judges in the blind audition stage of the show when she sang Beyonce's If I Were A Boy.

She delivered strong performances of It's A Man's Man's Man's World by James Brown and Run To You by Whitney Houston.

She also sang Mama Told Me Not To Come by Eric Burdon and The Animals in a duet with Sir Tom, a song he had previously covered with the Stereophonics.

The other finalists also performed with their coaches, with Bruce singing Read All About It by Professor Green and Emeli Sande with O'Donoghue, and Kidd and Jessie J singing her hit Nobody's Perfect. Will.i.am performed OMG, his hit with Usher, with his contestant James.

Mitchell, 28, from Lowestoft, is a former holiday camp singer who writes and plays keyboards and was once close to sealing a record contract. She provided one of the show's big upsets by making it through to the final at the expense of Ruth Brown, who had been a favourite to win the series.

The show has seen its audience halve from its height early in the series, reaching a new low for the semis last Saturday with just 4.5 million tuning in. Even appearances by Cheryl Cole and Kylie Minogue were not enough to rescue the plummeting ratings last weekend.