The protected disclosures centred mainly on what the claimant believed were the actions by the employer and senior managers that demonstrated a "complete disregard for the legal obligations designed to protect the public purse and ensure proper and open competition in the interests of the taxpayer." It was alleged a subsequent campaign of bullying by her colleagues led to the claimant's resignation. The ET sat in September 2002 but their judgment was not sent until 13 months later.

Sarah Crowther KC, sitting as High Court Deputy, in allowing the appeal first devotes several paragraphs [29-39] cataloguing the deficiencies of the ET's judgment in general before proceeding to review the grounds of appeal in detail before concluding at [87] that

"It is my judgment that the lack of consideration of many of the issues in the case has potentially affected all the issues and deprived the Claimant of a fair trial of her case and it is not possible now to rely on any of those findings."

The claim was therefore remitted to a new tribunal to consider it 'afresh and without regard to any of the findings made in the previous judgment'