Journalists on the Norwich Evening News regularly worked long hours and lacked support from their editor, an employment tribunal was told.

The former deputy news editor Dan Grimmer said the paper's then editor David Bourn was "very, very, demanding" and asked an "awful lot" from his reporters.

Dan, now a general reporter on the Evening News, added: "A lot of pressure was put on us to find exclusive stories. I felt David did not give enough support to people like me who were left to run the newsdesk pretty much on my own at times."

He was giving evidence on the fourth day of an employment tribunal in Norwich where reporter Jane Denny, (35), is pursuing a claim for constructive unfair dismissal against the paper’s publisher, Archant.

He told the tribunal: "It was clear that she (Jane Denny) felt she couldn't work in an office anywhere near David Bourn."

He also recalled how he once worked from 7am, alongside Jane, both eventually leaving the office at 9.30pm. "Jane was not alone in this," he said.

In her evidence Jane also claimed that on one occasion the news editor Alasdair McGregor left the paper's news conference in tears because of the way he had been treated by the editor and his deputy, Tim Williams.

But when she asked Dan if he recalled the incident he replied: "I don't know."

She revealed how she once "felt sorry" for him when he asked her in the office to turn out three page leads for the next day's paper.

And she told the tribunal: "I looked around and there were no other reporters in the office."

Dan Grimmer commented: "It is no secret that there were staffing shortages at the Evening News. That was a constant of my time there."

Jane had previously told the hearing that she resigned after the "vital bond" of trust between she and her editor was breached when he refused to endorse her entry for some journalism awards.

She had submitted a number of campaigning articles for the awards, published in the Evening News, which sought to establish a link between Ministry of Defence tests in the 60s involving the dropping of a toxic chemical called cadmium and the alleged high levels of throat cancer in Norfolk.

But the tribunal has heard that deputy editor Tim Williams had received a phone call during the cadmium campaign from a BBC online reporter, who had carried out his own investigation, which cast doubt on figures used by Jane in her reports.

As a result of the call from the BBC reporter, senior editors decided there was indeed a serious error in her reports and so the endorsement for the awards was refused.

The tribunal was also told how Jane was once given a written warning for leaving work to catch a train to London before she had completed a story.

During the subsequent disciplinary hearing David Bourn - who has recently left his post - is said to have lost his temper with her.

She began a grievance procedure against the editor - and Dan Grimmer said he recalled the editor appearing in the newsroom and announcing that he was "not happy about it".

But tribunal panel chairman Christopher Ash said: "This is a man (Mr Bourn) who is a disciplinarian and all he can say is that he is not happy about it? Not exactly Randolph Hearst is it?"

After closing speeches the chairman deferred his decision.