NI civil servant accused of harassment leaves job

A PROTESTANT senior civil servant who was accused of sectarian harassment of a Catholic colleague at the Northern Ireland Office…

A PROTESTANT senior civil servant who was accused of sectarian harassment of a Catholic colleague at the Northern Ireland Office has left her position. Her Catholic colleague has been offered her job back.

The official, known as Mrs B, was former Northern minister Baroness Denton's private secretary. The Northern Ireland Office said she had left eight days ago at her own request.

The Catholic woman who suffered the harassment, Ms Grainne Hedley, had been transferred to another department on the orders of Baroness Denton. She has since received apologies from senior civil servants. Ms Hedley has also been offered a new post in a private office, either at the Department of Agriculture, where she originally worked, or any other department.

A report last month into the affair by the former Northern Ireland Ombudsman, Dr Maurice Hayes, rejected the charge that Baroness Denton had been motivated by sectariansm However, Dr Hayes said there was evidence of "insensitivity in the handling of staff and poor personal relationships".