Accused of 'behaviours which look to be controlling, coercive and manipulative', Dr Paul Morrison,75, was also said to have refused to grant Dr Ibrahim Alfarwi leave.
At least once a day, Dr Paul Morrison stands at one of his upstairs windows with a pair of binoculars and counts the seabirds flying past.The birds hail from Coquet island, a stunning six-hectare outcrop which is home to 40,000 breeding seabirds, including puffins and rare roseate terns.
His passion for Coquet is such that he bought his home in the seaside village of Amble specifically because it looks out on to the islandAs the Mail reported earlier this week, this dedicated conservationist was sacked by the RSPB in March last year amid claims that he mistreated a Syrian immigrant colleague.
It is only now, after a protracted and highly emotive legal battle, that Paul is able to tell his side after reaching a settlement with his former employer for an undisclosed sum. Read More How a cabal of hard-left activists has turned the nation's favourite bird charity into a provisional wing of the Labour Party. GUY ADAMS investigates the RSPB's hostility towards the Government Last year, for example, amid a row over then‑Tory government plans to scrap water pollution restrictions for housing sites in England, the RSPB posted a tweet featuring a picture of former PM Rishi Sunak and two ministers, dubbing them 'liars'.
Nor has the impact been just emotional: two years ago, after his first disciplinary meeting, Paul – a regular half-marathon runner – suffered a mini-stroke which doctors put down to stress. Paul was accused of 'behaviours which look to be controlling, coercive and manipulative' and of refusing to grant Dr Alfarwi leave
As time went on it progressed into additional part-time paid work, then in 2005 he was offered the full-time post of warden and, latterly, site manager. He also continued to volunteer at weekends. 'Looking after the birds is 24-7, not nine-to-five, and we never had enough people,' Paul says.That meant, most days, making the one-mile journey to the island in a small rib, returning to the mainland at the end of the day.
'We hired in gowns, and a couple of us had an outdoor celebration on the island, presenting him with a scroll and a cake,' recalls Paul. 'Even so, he started insisting he had every 'right' to be off the island, which I just didn't get because he'd chosen to live there. Unbeknown to me, complaints had been made about me to my boss.'
Instead of rota chats, Dr Morrison says he was first accused of working illegal hours himself, before being told that he was making Dr Alfarwi work excessive hours, too. 'I pointed out that the ceremony was actually on a Sunday at five o'clock, when I wasn't working or volunteering in any official capacity,' he says.
Astonishingly, the next day Paul opened his front door to two armed police officers who said they had been notified he was an unsuitable person to have a firearms licence for reasons they said they were 'not at liberty' to disclose. Paul subsequently discovered that a manager had contacted the police by email to say he had concerns about Paul's 'mental health'.
In another surreal twist, during these disciplinary processes video footage emerged showing Dr Alfarwi chasing and stepping on the tail of a skua with suspected bird flu the previous August. He can then be seen bashing its skull against a rock after trying and failing to wring its neck. Meanwhile, the investigation into his handling of bird flu resulted in a second written warning and Paul was dismissed as a result.Pictured caring for an oil-covered seabird in 1963, Paul says he 'just wanted to do the best for the wildlife on an island I love'
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