LEEDS United faces a bill for damages after an employment tribunal found the club and one its managers subjected an employee to racial and sexual discrimination. Yvonne Campbell, a hospitality worker at Elland Road, was passed over for promotion four times.

Her boss, catering manager Alan Hegarty, had denied calling ethnic minority employees "jungle bunnies", "tree swingers" and referring to them as "coming off a banana boat".

It said Mr Hegarty was "more naturally inclined" to value the skills of white, male employees and it would not be surprising if he had devalued Mrs Campbell's abilities, although he may have done so subconsciously.

The ruling is a blow for the club and its chairman Ken Bates, who strongly rejected Mrs Campbell's version of events in his programme notes last month.

The tribunal heard that on one occasion Mrs Campbell was overlooked for a job on the grounds that her 30 years in the catering trade were inadequate, only for the position to go to a man with "extremely limited" experience.

When the 43-year-old, an assistant banqueting manager from Roundhay, Leeds, lodged a formal grievance with the club, Mr Hegarty threatened to sack her without a reference and to "sling mud". Mr Hegarty accused her of grabbing a co-worker by the throat – an allegation Mrs Campbell vehemently denied – and claimed she was "greedy and money orientated".

It concluded that Mrs Campbell's case and the way people were employed at the club showed "a complete disregard of equal opportunities policies and procedures".

This is cache, read story here