|
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
| NEWS | BY RANDREW WALKER AND SEAN SMITH |
 |
Taxpayers face a bill for hundreds of thousands of pounds after an employment tribunal on Thursday ruled the Town Hall was wrong to sack Chris Whiteside. In a submitted statement Mr Whiteside, 46, who lives in Handel Street, Holborn, told the tribunal that he was forced to take on known sex offenders despite the fact that some of the rooms overlooked a primary school. He said in a statement that his policy was not to accept “Schedule One offenders” or paedophiles after an incident some years earlier when a man had been arrested in the hostel following an indecent act in the window overlooking the primary school. He claimed one of the reasons for his dismissal was this refusal to accept sex offenders. The school is St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Primary School in Macklin Street, Covent Garden, which hit the headlines last week after photographs of pupils were found in the basement (see page 3) in an unconnected incident. The school is next to the hostel in Parker Street, Covent Garden. And it also emerged at the tribunal that Mr Whiteside’s boss Gerry Brett forced him to take on violent tenants, one of whom had “racially abused and spat in the cook’s face”. Last week Mr Brett – who is area manager of the section of Camden’s housing department that covers the hostel – was suspended on full pay by the council while they investigate accusations of witness intimidation. Meanwhile Camden Council is now counting the cost of wrongfully sacking Mr Whiteside after a former tenant made the bizarre claim that £12,500 worth of his property was thrown away by him when he didn’t return to the hostel for 18 months. The maximum penalty for unfair dismissal is £50,000 but the taxpayer will also have to bear the brunt of legal costs for the two-day tribunal in the region of £50,000. Mr Whiteside – who has suffered from severe depression since he was attacked and hospitalised in January 2002 just a month before he was sacked – has filed a defamation suit at the High Court against the council. And the Oxford University graduate is considering whether to sue the council for physical and mental damage the case has caused. Conservative Belsize Park councillor Jonny Bucknell voted to overturn Mr Whiteside’s sacking at an appeal hearing at the Town Hall in May but was voted down by two to one. Cllr Bucknell said: “This is going to cost the taxpayer a hell of a lot of money but will it change the way we make decisions on staff appeals?” Spokesman for council workers union Unison Anton Moctonian said: “We are very concerned about the allegation of intimidation of witnesses and the way this investigation was carried out. It is a huge waste of taxpayers money.” Mr Whiteside was sacked in February last year after Augustin Pique, a former tenant of the Parker Street Homeless hostel, claimed he left £12,500 of valuables for safekeeping in a cupboard after he went left the hostel for a flat in the Brunswick Centre King’s Cross in October 2000. Mr Whiteside threw out the belongings – which he thought to be “not up to much” – 18 months after Pique took up a flat around the corner form the hostel in the Brunswick Centre, Bloomsbury. But in an insurance claim seen by the tribunal, Pique claimed amongst his belongings he lost three silver candlesticks worth £2,000, a silver tea service worth £3,000, gold cufflinks, a tuxedo and cummerbund sash and a £500 colour TV. Mr Brett considered the disposal of the items to be an act of “gross misconduct” and initiated disciplinary proceedings. But vital witnesses had not been called – including the cleaner Herman Hendrikse who disposed of the property. The tribunal concluded the investigation into the event carried out by Mr Brett was flawed. Evidence from key witnesses was not considered, and evidence was poorly presented, chairman of the tribunal Brian Charlton said in his summing up. After a two-day tribunal where the council employed top barrister and Cambridge Law don Peter Wallington to defend it, the panel took under an hour to exonerate Mr Whiteside who had worked at the hostel for 15 years. Mr Whiteside’s management of the 128-room men’s hostel had attracted praise from the now Home Secretary David Blunkett. A press official at the Town Hall said: “The council wishes to stress that it takes allegations of this type very seriously and would under no circumstances condone this type of behaviour. We will be carrying out a full investigation and we will take whatever action is appropriate once the investigation is concluded.” The employment tribunal panel recnonvent next month to decide how much the Town Hall will have to pay Mr Whiteside in compensation. |
|