A convicted paedophile has been reinstated by a Government laboratory near York - to the fury of a worker who was sacked because she had health problems.
Civil servant Philip Brownell, who lives on the outskirts of York, was jailed for six
months in May last year for indecently assaulting a young schoolgirl at his home.
He forced his victim to undergo the traumatic ordeal of giving evidence at York Crown
Court by pleading not guilty to the charge.
He was placed on the sex offenders' register for seven years and sacked from his job at
the Ministry of Agriculture's Central Science Laboratory at Sand Hutton after his
conviction, but reinstated into the same department last month.
Former laboratory worker Sam Fuller says she was suspended from her job three days
away from the end of a 12-month contract after taking one-and-a-half days too many off
sick.
She lost an appeal against her dismissal and was sacked three months later.
She said it was disgraceful that a sex pest who preyed on a young girl seemed to be
receiving special treatment at taxpayers' expense, while she was sacked, despite having
a genuine medical complaint.
"I was absolutely furious and horrified when I found out he had been taken on again,"
said Ms Fuller, 32, of Southburn, East Yorkshire.
"I was very, very shocked and upset. I can't believe that he has been re-employed while
I have been treated appallingly.
"It seems he was given special treatment by management."
Ms Fuller said that when she was suspended from her job, her security pass was taken
away and she was told to get off the site immediately.
"But he, on the other hand, was welcomed back with open arms," she said.
Ms Fuller is also concerned that a man who is on the sex offenders' register is working
on a site where there are children present.
"He's on the sex offenders' register for a good reason - it's supposed to be there for the
public's safety.
"There are teenage girls at the labs and a crche for more than 30 young children and a
paedophile is right there on the same site."
Professor Peter Stanley, chief executive of the Central Science Laboratory, confirmed a
man had been reinstated, but added that he was bound by staff confidentiality and was
unable to discuss the case of either Ms Fuller or Mr Brownell. However, he said both
cases went through the proper appeals procedures.
He said the crche was outside the main laboratory area and was governed by strict
security with stringent entry and exit procedures.
"It has to be so for the protection of the babies and toddlers in there," he said.
Mr Brownell declined to comment.
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