Screenwriter Carla Lane was ordered to pay out more than £8,000 in what a tribunal panel described as the worst case of unfair dismissal they had seen.

The writer of hit TV series' Bread and Butterflies was taken to a tribunal by her former employee Mandy Rutherford, who claimed she was a victim of sex discrimination and unfair dismissal.

Miss Rutherford, 35, of Brunswick Place, had worked at Miss Lane's animal sanctuary, near Haywards Heath, for 16 months before being sacked in April this year.

Miss Rutherford said she had been a victim of sex discrimination because Miss Lane had dismissed her claims that she was being sexually harassed by another employee.

Miss Rutherford said she was made to feel stressed, self-conscious, undermined and intimidated by John Bully, whom Miss Lane had employed as a manager at the sanctuary.

She said he once offered her £5,000 to sleep with his son because he did not like his son's girlfriend.

Miss Rutherford told the tribunal: "I was psychologically bullied until I was broken.

"My love of animals made this my ideal job and I was incredibly happy working for Carla Lane.

"But the last three months were the most upsetting and unfair period of my working life."

She said Mr Bully would make explicit sexual comments, would crowd close to her and scream orders in her face.

"It made me feel increasingly isolated, threatened and uncomfortable in his presence but at no time did Carla seem interested when I tried to talk to her about it.

"She said 'He's 51 and that's how men of his age act towards women', which made me feel even more intimidated and vulnerable."

She added that Mr Bully's behaviour made her physically frightened and led her to hyperventilate and cry until she was signed off work for stress by her GP.

However, Miss Lane told the tribunal she knew nothing about the sexual harassment.

She said: "I'm not the kind of person to overlook that. I thought theirs was just a friendship that had gone wrong. I sacked Mandy because of her foul language and ill temper, which started long before Mr Bully came.

"Mandy has always had a temper - she knows that. One member of staff said he did not want to work there any more because of her outbursts."

Miss Lane said she had been kind to Miss Rutherford, letting her take time off every day to look after her horse and care for her dog.

Miss Lane said that as well has her temper, all the staff complained Miss Rutherford spent far too much time hand feeding a deformed cockerel.

She said: "A member of staff accidentally locked this well-loved animal in a stable and he was killed by the other cockerels.

"This disturbed Mandy but her continual outbursts meant the staff were being disrupted and I had to think of them. I didn't want to sack Mandy but I need there to be peace and tranquillity at the sanctuary."

Chairman of the panel James Simpson said: "This is the worst case of unfair dismissal this tribunal has had the misfortune of hearing.

"We accept that Mr Bully behaved in an aggressive way towards the applicant and that Miss Lane knew that he had made comments to her and other members of staff."

He said Miss Lane made no attempt to investigate allegations made about Mr Bully by Miss Rutherford.

Afterwards, Miss Rutherford said: "I'm very happy with the result. Ultimately it was for Rupert the cockerel, who was murdered.

"It's been a very stressful, awful time and I'm happy that we got the right result."

Miss Lane said: "I'm devastated - this gives the sanctuary a bad name and we don't deserve that. We will definitely consider appealing."