THE TELEGRAPH: A headteacher whose health and career were ruined by false accusations of racism and religious discrimination at a primary school dominated by Muslims has won £400,000 in damages.
Erica Connor was forced into early retirement through stress after governors at New Monument School in Woking turned her into a scapegoat by claiming she was Islamophobic.
But the local education authority failed to help her as its "excessively tolerant" officers were more worried about complaints to the race equality watchdog than her suffering.
The High Court agreed that the Surrey County Council was negligent in not stepping in to support the headteacher, and ordered it to pay £407,781 in compensation. This includes damages for psychiatric injury, loss of income and pension, medical expenses and the premature end of the career she loved.
As she left court, Mrs Connor, 57, said: "The last five years have been a long haul at great personal cost to myself and my family, so I am thrilled that justice has prevailed.
"It is so unfortunate that matters have taken so long to resolve and at such a financial cost, but I finally feel vindicated in terms of the accusations of racism and Islamophobia against myself.
"For a protracted length of time I was subjected to dreadful pressure from a small group of individuals, unrepresentative of the local community, without the support I would have expected from Surrey County Council." >>> By Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent | Thursday, March 19, 2009
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