Sacking 'over duck espionage'

AN ACCOUNTS clerk was sacked because her bosses believed she had revealed secrets of a toy duck to her estranged husband who worked for a rival firm, an industrial tribunal was told yesterday.

Ann Phillips, 28, who worked for ProMould in Banbury, Oxfordshire, claimed she was accused of passing details of a Plucky Duck stencil to her husband Tony, a sales executive at Banbury Plastics.

Gian Pearson, the founder of ProMould, told the tribunal at Reading, Berkshire, that a customer who had ordered the stencil complained that Tony Phillips had contacted her with details of the 'confidential' product.

Mrs Phillips, from Banbury, was fired in March. She is claiming sexual discrimination against ProMould because she says it sacked her because of her marriage.

Tony Phillips, 30, of Woodford Halse, Northamptonshire, said he had not been given Plucky Duck samples.

The tribunal reserved its judgment on the case and both sides will be informed of the decision by letter.