Salesman “Who Wasted Time at Work on Affair” Sued for &250 000

By Sam Greenhill

A salesman is being sued for &250 000 by his boss who claims he spent so much time conducting an office affair with a secretary that he lost the firm nearly half a million pounds.

Terry Hunter is alleged to have wasted hours paying attention to managing director Daragh Coleman’s personal assistant when he should have been working.

Now, in an unprecedented legal action, IT software firm Coleman Bennett International is trying to make him pay compensation.

It has issued a High Court writ to the 41-year-old married father of two, accusing him of losing the company &469 327.

Mr. Coleman says Mr. Hunter spent so much time wooing 31-year-old Natalie Bawden-Brian that he ended up having to do much of his work for him.

He claims Mr. Hunter – who earned & 200 000 a year – lost contracts and clients because his mind was not on the job.

According to the writ, Mr. Hunter started a «clandestine extra-marital affair» with brunette Miss Bawden-Brian in December 2001 which continued for nearly two years until he resigned in September 2003.

The company which employs 35, accuses him of becoming «increasingly distracted and inattentive» to his work duties, regularly going out of the office and «devoting significantly less time and effort to his sales duties».

The writ says he also made too many personal phone calls, sent personal text messages and emails and visited non business related websites.

He is being sued for about half the amount the company says he lost, as some of it was later recovered from clients Mr. Hunter had undercharged and who agreed to make up the short-fall.

Mr. Hunter’s wife Zoe, who married him in 1990, was yesterday said to be shocked at the allegations.

She did not return to the &1 million family home on the Elsenham Hall estate in Essex.

A friend said: «She is devastated. Terry had not told her about this and now he is away on business. It has come as something of a shock».

«Terry is a good looking guy and appears younger than his years. He is an excellent salesman and can usually talk people round».

«They always warm to him, but this is the first time I have heard of anything like this».

Miss Bawden-Brian, who is thought to be South-African, left the company shortly after the alleged affair ended.

Yesterday, at the & 200 000 riverside apartment in London’s Docklands where she lives with her father, she refused to discuss the matter, saying: «I have absolutely no comment to make». Mr. Hunter joined Coleman Bennett in January 1999 as one of three salesmen and had the task of generating sales of more than &3 million a year.

He earned a &56 000 salary with sales commission of &135 000 on top.

According to his conditions of employment, he was required to report any personal relationship with a member of staff in writing to the managing director.

Mr. Coleman said: «I have no comment to make other than that we didn’t start this. We are counter-suing him».

Mr. Hunter had unsuccessfully taken the company to an employment tribunal after he left.

He now works in London for a Swedish IT consulting company called Cybercom.

It is rare for a company to sue an employee. Businesses believe the system is skewed against them because employees have many more rights than they do.

There is no easy mechanism for recovering costs from a claimant if the case is successfully defended. Firms argue that employees are exploiting a compensation culture.

Mr. Hunter has said of the High Court writ: «The whole thing is nonsensical».

Last night his father, Eric, said his son was away on business in Sweden.

He added: «This sounds like a lot of nonsense. Terry has always been good, honest, and hard-working».

«I think it will come out in court that there is a lot more to this than meets the eye».

(«Daily Mail», 24.09. 2004)