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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - The former head gardener to Queen Noor of Jordan was today accused of trying to blackmail her ex-employer by making up sexual discrimination claims.

Lawyers for the Queen’s English estate alleged Amanda Hill was courting publicity to secure a large payout.

Mrs Hill rejected the accusation, made under cross-examination while she testified to an employment tribunal.

The 51-year-old says she was bullied out of her job at the sprawling country estate after a male colleague was promoted and given many of her responsibilities.
Among her claims was that she had been ordered to plant avocados and mango trees at the Berkshire site.
When she pointed out that they would not grow in the English climate, she alleges estate manager Caroline Migdadi told her: 'Tell that to Her Majesty Queen Noor.'

Mrs Hill is suing Ambassador Marine Ltd, the Panama-based firm which technically owns and runs Buckhurst Park, near Ascot, for sexual discrimination and constructive dismissal.
Today, Schona Jolly, representing the firm, put to Mrs Hill: 'You used it (the sexual discrimination claim) as an attempt to effectively blackmail your previous employer and encourage publicity to get a settlement at a much higher rate than you otherwise would have done.'

Mrs Hill replied: 'No. Absolutely not. I absolutely deny it whatsoever.
'I have no reason to want to discredit Her Majesty in any shape or form whatsoever or want publicity,' before adding: 'It is not going to do myself any good with my current employers.'

Mrs Hill has told the tribunal how colleague Danny Welland was promoted and she then had various parts of her role taken away from her.

She said she was effectively deprived of an office and a computer and was moved to a new tea room, where she was unable to work, while Mr Welland and male members of the team took the equipment from their previous tea room and set up in a stable block.

She also claimed tools from a tool shed were moved to a new shed and locked up but that she, despite being head gardener, was not given a key and had to waste large amounts of time doing simple jobs as a result.

Mrs Hill, who lives in Ascot, Berkshire, also said the booking and supervision of students to help on the estate, a role she had previously fulfilled, was also taken from her.

Yet under cross-examination she conceded many of her points were not in fact evidence of sexual discrimination but rather of bullying and unfair treatment.
She said of the tea room move: 'I felt it was another way of isolating me, intimidating me, nobody telling me anything any more. Nobody reporting to me anymore.'

The tribunal, led by employment judge Robin Lewis at Reading Employment Tribunal Centre, was expected to hear more evidence from Mrs Hill before her husband testified.
The hearing was until Tuesday and is expected to conclude late next week.


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