Facilities manager sacked after being falsely accused of joining 'cougar dating' website with his work email wins £119,000 compensation

Published: 16:55, 7 July 2026 | Updated: 16:59, 7 July 2026 A facilities manager sacked after being falsely accused of joining a 'cougar dating' website with his work email has won £119,000 compensation. Chris Tweedie was accused by top bosses at Edenbeck Ltd in Chesham, Buckinghamshire of signing up to the website Hot Cougar Dates after his inbox allegedly received four emails offering 'cheap sex dates'. The account on the site also allegedly had a 'selfie' of Mr Tweedie with 'a bare shoulder'. The emails were held up in a December 2024 meeting as 'evidence to indicate misuse of the company's computer and email facilities' and Edenbeck sacked the manager for gross misconduct. But Mr Tweedie argued that he had become mixed up in a company power struggle between father and son directors, Stuart and Chris Mayall, who had fallen out. He claimed he had been 'victimised' having aligned himself to Chris - the son - and the string of emails was part of a 'scattergun' approach to remove him from the business. The manager took his claim to an employment tribunal in Watford where it was ruled the investigation into his conduct had not been carried out properly and he had been unfairly dismissed.  Mr Tweedie started working as a manager at Edenbeck in 2019 and had a range of responsibilities at the company whose services included asbestos removal and helping manage government sites like prisons. Chris Tweedie, pictured, was accused by bosses at Edenbeck Ltd of signing up to the website Hot Cougar Dates and has now won compensation for unfair dismissal But when the father-son leadership dynamic broke down, they began trying to cut one another out of the company and Mr Tweedie got caught up in the feud, the tribunal heard. In July 2024, Stuart Mayall offered the employee the role of Director of Operations should he gain control of the company. Mr Tweedie then started attending meetings with Chris Mayall and refusing to accept orders from his father. This led Stuart to brand him 'a maverick' and organise an investigation which 'sought' for his dismissal, the tribunal heard. He was suspended in October 2024 for a number of alleged breaches of conduct and in subsequent meetings more claims were made that had not been properly investigated. Mr Tweedie was shown the emails from Hot Cougar Dates, Cheap Sex Dates and Dating Cell in a meeting in December 2024 and he denied knowing anything about them. He pointed out that they had been received after his suspension and asked 'why would he sign up to emails knowing others had access'. Bosses suggested the 'account is associated with him' because the emails were in his inbox rather than the spam or junk folders, and the profile picture was a selfie of him.  The investigating officer did not check to see if the photo of him was publicly available and therefore could have been used without his knowledge, the tribunal heard. But Mr Tweedie was nonetheless summarily dismissed on December 20, 2024, and branded the accusations 'baseless'. The reasons cited included his 'IT misuse' and the suggestion he had 'lied in his denials'. The manager opted to take the claim to an employment tribunal instead of triggering an appeal process which he thought would be biased against him. Employment Judge Rebecca Tuck KC agreed the investigation had not been correctly executed and therefore he had been unfairly dismissed.  She said: 'Stuart Mayall had a genuine belief that [Mr Tweedie] had subscribed to the websites which [Edenbeck's] policies would properly regard as a misuse of their internal systems. 'However, this belief was not based on a reasonable investigation. The emails were all received during [Mr Tweedie's] suspension. 'There was no investigation as to who else had access to his account, and no consideration whatsoever as to whether [Mr Tweedie] could have been signed up to any websites without his permission.' Mr Tweedie was awarded a compensatory award of £112,271.16, a basic award of £5,250 and his holiday pay of £1,727.24, to be paid by Edenbeck.