A government worker who reported an alleged culture of bullying claims she was tied to her office chair and gagged by colleagues as revenge. In a shocking image allegedly taken by one of the abusers, DeeAnn Fitzpatrick is seen taped to where she sat with her arms pinned by her sides. She claims she was the victim of racist and misogynist bullying while working at a government agency for fisheries in Scotland. In evidence to a tribunal, Canadian national Ms Fitzpatrick, 49, claims she was told: ‘This is what you get when you speak out against the boys.’ The harassment allegedly took place in 2010 while she was working at Marine Scotland’s office in Scrabster on the far north Caithness coast.
She told the tribunal that over a period of ten years she was subject to bullying, including being mocked about her miscarriage and told some staff didn’t want ‘a woman, especially a foreign woman’. While working there she says she heard extreme racist language and threatening behaviour to female staff. She says she was also sent anonymous Valentine’s calling her a ‘troll’ and saying ‘we miss you, not’. The photo of her being taped up was obtained by the BBC. However, as it was taken more than three years before she brought her employment case the tribunal won’t make a judgement on it. Her sister-in-law Sherry Fitzpatrick told the BBC she wanted this photograph to be circulated: ‘We were horrified. We were sickened. We worry about what this has done to her.