A DIRECTOR at Citizens Advice Scotland bullied and intimidated staff at a rape crisis centre, a tribunal has found

Duncan Dennett, a former board member at Central Scotland Rape Crisis and Sexual Abuse Centre, was aggressive towards staff there - including on one occasion when a rape victim was receiving advice.

Staff raised several complaints about his conduct, which they say was "angry", "threatening" and "very intimidating", but bosses failed to investigate the claims against the manager, who was last year awarded a MBE for services to the community.

The full details of Mr Dennett's behaviour have been revealed in an employment tribunal judgment in the case of former centre worker Helen McKean, who has been awarded almost £20,000 for constructive dismissal.

Ms McKean, of Stirling, was forced to resign after chairwoman Ann Ballinger failed to take her complaints about Mr Dennett seriously.

Ms McKean said: "It's been a hellish year and a half, The whole thing really shattered my confidence.

"Duncan Dennett was aggressive and you just can't have that in a rape crisis centre.

"We're supposed to create a safe environment for the women who visit the centre and this kind of thing just cannot happen.

"We were fighting abuse, power and control everyday at the centre and that's exactly what he displayed to us."

Employment judge Chris Lucas awarded Ms McKean £19,426.58 at the tribunal, which was undefended by Central Scotland Rape Crisis.

In a written judgment, he said: "The tribunal has been provided with ample evidence to back up Ms McKean's contention that Mr Dennett regularly demonstrated aggression within the centre.

"There was also ample evidence to demonstrate that Ms McKean and many others had brought Mr Dennett's conduct to the attention of the board but the board had done little or nothing to procure that his aggressive conduct was stopped."

The tribunal heard evidence from four of Ms McKean's former colleagues, all of whom described Mr Dennett as aggressive.

In one incident in August 2013, after the centre manager had gone off on long term sick, Mr Dennett told Ms McKean that she was to take on the responsibility of acting centre manager.

When she declined, he then threatened to close down the centre and put all of the workers out of a job.

On another occasion, while a worker "was trying to conduct a sensitive telephone conversation with a survivor who needed support", Mr Dennett could be heard shouting at a fellow board member, who then pleaded with him to stop.

Other staff members also described him taking over a meeting at the centre in an aggressive manner, causing distress to staff - "many of whom have had to endure verbal and physical aggression in their private lives".

Ms McKean raised a grievance against Mr Dennett in September 2013 and another several months later but neither of these were followed up by Mrs Ballinger, a former general secretary for the Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association.

Another member of staff who gave evidence said she also raised a grievance about Mr Dennett's behaviour which was again never investigated.

The witness claimed she was told by Mrs Ballinger that she "needed to rely on Mr Dennett's skills and would back him up even in the face of complaints against him".

Ms McKean said: "I raised a grievance with Ann Ballinger and she asked for more information, which I provided, but nothing was ever taken up.

"She didn't take it seriously - she told another board member that she had received a rambling email from me.

"After I raised the grievances things became really difficult for me. They took all my duties off me and gave them to a co-worker and I wasn't told about anything that was going on - even to do with the funding of my role. They totally shut me out.

"It was a total mockery of me and the organisation which was supposed to be working against violence and bullying.

"One of my roles used to involve going into schools to talk about bullying and in the end I was being bullied by the people I was working for."

Ms McKean eventually resigned on March 28 last year after seven years of service with the organisation.

She added: "I loved my job and I was passionate about helping survivors, but they showed me absolutely no respect and I just felt like I couldn't carry on there.

"I stayed on as long as I could for the survivors.

"I would have been in that job until I retired if this hadn't happened."

Mr Dennett, who continues to work as a manager at Clackmannanshire Citizens Advice Bureau, resigned from his role at the rape crisis centre in May last year.

He said: "It's unfortunate that the organisation was unable to defend the action therefore the evidence given by the claimant went unchallenged."

No one from Central Scotland Rape Crisis was available for comment.