JEREMY Stafford, who resigned from John Menzies abruptly in January after 15 months as chief executive, received a pay-off of £65,200.

He was also given £4,800 towards his legal costs, according to the company’s website.

Mr Stafford, below, was said to have resigned suddenly for personal reasons on January 12. Chairman Iain Napier declined at the

time to elaborate on his departure.

The firm’s annual report published on April 5 did not mention the pay-off, which appears in a separate website statement just spotted by a shareholder.

Mr Stafford was paid £493,000 last year. He forfeited rights to 160,486 shares when all his long-term awards lapsed on his departure. He was appointed in October 2014, 11 months after he resigned as chief executive of Serco.

The report revealed that neither Mr Stafford nor Menzies’ other executive, Paula Bell, had received a bonus last year due to Menzies’ performance. Ms Bell gave notice on April 18 of her intention to resign and will join Spirent in a similar role in July.

The report said the board had terminated Mr Stafford’s employment after his resignation, and a source close to the company said yesterday this was to enable an agreed pay-off to be made and it was "all quite straightforward”.

The firm appears to have abandoned a single-leader model, reverting to a triumvirate of wo divisional heads and a finance director.