A newspaper has been ordered to pay £27,000 to the editor’s former secretary by an industrial tribunal that ruled she was unfairly dismissed.

Diane Hurford had worked for the Wolverhampton Express and Star for 20 years.

She told the tribunal in Birmingham how she was “hustled out” of her job and “treated like a thief” by the new editor there, Adrian Faber, who she said had sacked her on the spot.

The Express and Star admitted it had dismissed her unfairly but said it should only pay her £7,520.

The tribunal came to its figure by projecting her earnings beyond the date of the hearing.

And tribunal chairwoman Martha Street said the “taint” of her sacking in April this year made her less acceptable to future employers.

In her evidence Diane told the tribunal she had given her life to the paper, a career which resulted in the end of her first marriage after she refused to take time off work to go with her husband to Dubai.

Prior to taking his post at the Express and Star in April, Adrian Faber was editor of the Shropshire Star for four years and was previously editor at the Bristol Evening Post.

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