Sacked teacher unfairly dismissed

A SACKED Eton College art teacher who secretly taped Britain’s Prince Harry in an attempt to save her job won her case for unfair dismissal yesterday.

Sarah Forsyth, aged 30, took the public school to an employment tribunal earlier this year claiming that Eton had unfairly decided not to renew her contract.

The tribunal found that the decision not to renew her temporary contract was not handled “objectively.” Palace representatives said the outcome totally cleared Harry of cheating in his A-Level artwork.

Miss Forsyth, despite her victory, was criticised by the tribunal panel over her accusations that Harry had cheated in his coursework.

The Prince was drawn into the dispute because of a short encounter with Miss Forsyth in the summer of 2002 when he was making final preparations on his AS-Level art coursework. Miss Forsyth claimed she had effectively written most of the text of the Prince’s “expressive journal”, a written piece to accompany his coursework. A year later, faced with losing her position, she secretly taped a conversation with Harry on his way to his final exam to back up her belief that she had written the text for some of his coursework.

This step, which the tribunal described as “her way of getting attention”, was, the panel concluded, “the least attractive aspect of the claimant’s behaviour in the proceedings.”

In a statement, Miss Forsyth said the tribunal had found she was the primary victim and defended her decision to tape the prince.