By Lucy Caulkett-
Morrison must pay the price of the abused trust of their employee who breached Data Protection Rules
That is the submission of Jonathan Barnes who is representing the 9,000 claimants in the last lap of the group claim against Morrisons. The experienced barrister told the Supreme Court today that Skelton’s betrayal of the trust Morrison placed in him is one the company have to pay for. Whilst mentioning the fact the sums will lead to monumental sums, he said the aim was not to bankrupt Morrison’s
He said: ‘You hire someone, you trust them, you ask them to do something that requires trust and they let you down… In that situation policy says it should be the enterprise that bears the risk rather than leaving individual claimants to see what they can do against Mr Skelton.’
He added: ‘All the features of the wrong occurred within Mr Skelton’s employment. We are not running a case where we need to aggregate any conduct from anywhere else.’ Barnes also claimed that Skelton’s wrongdoing was not a ‘mere opportunity case’. He said: ‘This is not a case where the office cleaner finds a thumb screw and takes the opportunity to make use of it… Skelton abused the trust placed in him [by Morrisons].’
Skelton disclosed the personal details of about 9,000 Morrison employees, including their addresses and wage details. He is currently serving 3 years in jail for the breach which he committed due to a grudge with Morrison bosses.