Managers within the Crown Office sexual offences unit laughed at a trainee who told them she was being sexually harassed, a tribunal has heard.

Kirsten Fordham, a former fiscal officer, claims her mentor within the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) sent her unwanted texts and told her she gave him “butterflies”.

She claims that when she reported it to her line manager and another boss within the High Court sexual offences team at Glasgow, they “laughed in her face”.

The worker is now pursuing a claim for victimisation at an employment tribunal after she was dismissed for looking up information on friends and family members in breach of COPFS rules.

She claims that had she not reported the harassment allegations, she would not have been disciplined or dismissed.

Miss Fordham told the tribunal that the harassment by her “training buddy”, whose wife also worked at COPFS, began when she started work in April 2019.

She said: “I felt very intimidated. It was gradual at first, but it grew and grew as time went on. I would say to him about his wife being downstairs, or ask him about his family, to try to put him off. But he eventually said ‘I really have feelings for you, I really want relations’, and that’s when I felt I couldn’t handle it on my own anymore.”

She reported it to managers Anna Conlon and Stacey Ingram, who she claimed “hysterically threw themselves back in a chair and laughed”.

Their senior manager Katie Woods gave evidence to the tribunal and was asked by Ms Fordham, who is representing herself, if this was appropriate behaviour.

She said: “I don’t think it’s appropriate at all to laugh, however I wasn’t there.

“From speaking to them about it afterwards, it appears that they were in shock and weren’t really sure how to react, but it certainly wasn’t an appropriate reaction.”

Ms Fordham asked if there were any consequences to their actions, or if they had undergone any training.

Ms Woods replied: “In terms of training, no. I did speak to them, however I was unaware that there was hysterical laughter, I was told that it was a giggle due to shock, but either way I did speak to them about the laugh.”

The tribunal heard that in May 2019, just a month after joining COPFS, Ms Fordham was flagged for suspicious activity after she accessed the records of someone with the same surname.

A further report was filed the following month showing that she also accessed information on members of her fiancé’s family and an investigation was launched.

She received a letter about facing a disciplinary hearing regarding the breaches in October.

She claims that this was in response to her making the sexual harassment complaint in September, however the Crown’s position is that they weren’t aware of the complaint until later on in October.

Molly McGrady, the solicitor acting for COPFS, put it to Ms Fordham: “By the point that you had raised allegations, Katie Woods had already spoken to you about the concerns around you accessing records without a legitimate basis to do so. A security incident report had been submitted and an investigation officer had been appointed. Do you accept that?”

She replied: “I wasn’t aware of any of that.”

The lawyer added that the disciplinary and decision to dismiss were not motivated by the sexual harassment complaint, but by her misconduct.

Ms Fordham replied: “I believe that the complaint of sexual harassment is what pushed this to a disciplinary. “

She added that she was unaware that she was not allowed to look up individuals without cause.

Ms McGrady said: “You worked at the Crown Office. You must have known that you couldn’t just search the system for names?”

Ms Fordham replied: “I didn’t know that until it was highlighted to me.”

The tribunal continues.