A FORMER deputy town clerk, who was judged to have been unfairly dismissed amid “moral disapproval” of her personal relationship with a councillor, has spoken of the raw emotional impact the experience still has on her.

Giving evidence remotely at an employment tribunal remedy hearing against Barnard Castle Town Council, Jane Woodward said her career had been “totally destroyed”

An earlier hearing was told the atmosphere between staff at Barnard Castle Town Council began to turn sour in 2017 after it emerged that Mrs Woodward had grown close to then councillor Roger Peat, whose wife Rosemary was in a home with Alzheimer’s. She died last October.

Mrs Woodward found herself the subject of gossip and anonymous letters, which were referred to police, and was branded a gold-digger.

In 2019 Mr Peat resigned from the authority and Mrs Woodward was later dismissed from her post after the council cited “an irretrievable breakdown in relationships between her and her co-workers and councillors”.

Mrs Woodward told yesterday’s hearing she had applied for jobseekers allowance since, but her jobs coach quickly realised she was not in a fit emotional state to continue looking for work.

She was assessed as having limited capability to work and, while she did not have to actively look for a paid job, she had taken on a voluntary role at the town's Witham Hall.

She said: “I was trying to deal with the effects of discrimination and unfair dismissal, which are real and raw still.

“Over time I might learn how to cope with it and deal with it. But I can’t just put it to one side and move on it’s not that easy. It has damaged my confidence in myself.”

Mrs Woodward said she had got an offer last November for a clerking job at the neighbouring Lartington Parish Council.

She said: “The thought of working with another local council just made me feel sick with anxiety.

“I couldn’t even face replying to the email. I couldn’t even contemplate working for another council. not after what had happened.

She added: “I do not want this kind of thing to happen again. I can’t get over the feeling this was my career. I was in a job I loved in town I enjoyed loving in.

“I was very proud to work for the town council. Everything that happened to me it has just totally destroyed my career.

“I can’t deal with the thought of having to go back and work with councillors. I just cannot face that thought.”

During an earlier hearing the council had denied her claims, but Judge Seamus Sweeney ruled in her favour and upheld Mrs Woodward’s complaint of disability discrimination, on the grounds the council had failed to make “reasonable adjustment” for her depression and anxiety.

Judge Sweeney reserved his judgement on a final settlement.