X Factor's Faye Bray back in Cannock

Former X Factor contestant Faye Bray returned to the stage after "a horrible week" in which she lost an unfair dismissal claim against the prison where she taught inmates.

The mother-of-three shared the bill with comedian Roy Walker and Britain's Got Talent contestant Jean Martyn in a Help For Heroes concert in her hometown of Cannock.

She had intended to donate all her compensation to the charity, had she won the case. "I'm independently wealthy and didn't take the prison to court for the money," Faye said.

The 30-year-old, who is married to millionaire businessman Richard Bray, was sacked from her job at Brinsford Young Offenders Institution in Featherstone after wearing "mesmerising" clothes to work and posting provocative pictures online.

The tribunal heard that she was a good teacher whose students boasted a 100 per cent success rate in all her subjects but there were also tales of a sexy website featuring a whip-wielding Faye in a basque and stockings, a saucy email address and a claim that she wore see-through trousers to work.

Speaking after last night's show at The Prince of Wales Centre, which also included a song from her 14-year-old daughter Georgia, she defended her actions.

"There seems to be some kind of conflict which says attractive women can't work in a prison," she said.

"I loved my job, and my students had nothing but respect for me. The trousers were a wardrobe malfunction. When I realised they were see-through, I went straight home and changed them.

"The email address was one I created at 18 – that's 12 years ago – and I didn't realise it still showed up on my computer correspondence.

"As for the whip – it was just a prop. It only featured in one photo out of 200 pictures I'd put on my website, it didn't mean anything.

"And I don't think a basque is particularly sexual.

"I wore one on X Factor – they'd actually wanted me to wear a bikini but I refused."