Thursday 29 September 2022 02:59 PM British Council chief in Italy who was wrongly fired over 'groping' wins £300k ... trends now
The head of the British Council in Italy who was wrongly fired after being accused of drunkenly groping an embassy worker's breasts at a party has won his job back - as well as £300,000 for unfair dismissal.
Paul Sellers was accused of kissing the woman on the lips and 'stroking' her breasts with two hands when she left a Christmas party he hosted at his flat in Rome.
The respected envoy - whose wife and children were next to him at the time of the alleged incident - denied giving her anything other than a kiss on each cheek in a traditional 'Italian farewell'.
But after she complained of sexual harassment, he was subjected to a 'seriously flawed' investigation and sacked from his senior role after 30 years service to the British Council.
An employment tribunal concluded that investigators ignored evidence, dismissed the accounts of six witnesses who saw nothing untoward, and instead chose to believe the 'hazy' account of the woman despite admitting they were not '100 per cent sure what happened'.
After winning his case for unfair dismissal, Mr Sellers demanded he be re-instated to the £70,000 a year job.
Employment Judge Bernard Hodgson has now ruled that the British Council - which resisted the move - must re-engage him as a country director or other senior position abroad - but not in Italy.
It must also pay him for more than three years' missed salary and he will also receive compensation likely to approach £300,000.
Paul Sellers was accused of kissing the woman on the lips and 'stroking' her breasts with two hands when she left a Christmas party he hosted at his flat in Rome
The original hearing in central London last November was told Mr Sellers was appointed British Council country director for Italy in 2014 and lived in Rome with wife Isadora Papadrakakis.
Around 50 people attended the Christmas party they threw on December 16, 2018, and the tribunal heard Mr Sellers drank 'two or three' glasses of wine and was seen dancing.
His accuser, named only as 'ZZ', said goodbye to Mr Sellers in the kitchen area around 4.30pm as she left and the next day alleged she was sexually harassed.
ZZ, who said Mr Sellers was 'quite drunk', claimed: 'At about 4:30 pm as the party was winding down I decided to leave and I went to thank Paul.
'As I went to kiss him goodbye he kissed me twice on the side of my mouth (rather than the cheek) and then he stroked my breasts with both his hands.
'I was very shocked so I didn't respond immediately and left the party. There were other people in the room but I do not know if they witnessed it.'
After the complaint was made, Ken O'Flaherty, the embassy's deputy head of mission, said the alleged groping was 'clearly deliberate' and even said Mr Sellers had been 'erratic and uncharacteristically emotional' in recent months and warranted investigation.
Mr Sellers was left stunned when informed about the allegations and vehemently denied them.
'People would get a kiss on both cheeks', he told investigators as he explained he was busy giving Italian
