Waitress tells of how alleged assault by England ace Aaron Lennon got her fired from VIP Manchester nightclub popular with footy stars
Disgust as £2,000-a-booth Manchester nightclub where she worked FIRED her for speaking out
A WAITRESS has told of her disgust at being sacked by a nightclub after reporting an alleged sexual assault by England ace Aaron Lennon.
Charlotte Long, 20, claimed the star groped her before ripping her dress and slapping her while partying with pals in the VIP section.
Charlotte, sacked after reporting Lennon to police, last week received a payout for unfair dismissal but said: “The whole thing makes me sick.”
Her mum Gill Coombes, who represented her at a tribunal, said: “Every time I see Lennon on the TV, I want to smash it in.”
The Everton winger, 29, was out with pals in the £2,000-a-booth VIP section of Manchester’s Suede nightclub last April when the alleged attack occurred.
Charlotte, 18 at the time and on £7 an hour, recalled: “There were always footballers and celebs there so it was nothing unusual.
“He was spending loads on drinks. People were going up to him, chatting and asking for pictures. He seemed in a good mood and was having a laugh.”
But Charlotte claimed it turned nasty when she walked past the £55,000-a-week star.
She said: “He groped at me, ripping my top. When I shook him off he slapped me round the face.
“It stung and I felt my cheek swelling up. I was in complete shock.
“I got really upset and rushed to the toilets, expecting staff or management to have noticed and follow me in but nobody did.
";After a few minutes I’d calmed down and came out.
“When I told my manager what happened I was told to take five minutes, put my make-up on and get back out there.”
Charlotte says she was told Lennon had been ejected from the club but was then shocked to discover he was still there.
She said: “I was completely shaken and didn’t know what to do, so I finished the shift and tried to stay away from him.”
The next day she told her mum Gill, a litigation executive, who was outraged.
Charlotte said: “We both felt the club should have taken my complaints more seriously and done more to protect me.
“My mum said I should go to the police but I was terrified of losing my job if I did.
"I knew they wouldn’t want me to get one of their celebrity guests into trouble or put them off returning to the club.”
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Gill went to Suede and Everton FC but was frustrated by a lack of response, so told police four days later.
Lennon was interviewed by officers under caution, as we reported exclusively at the time.
Weeks later Charlotte was sacked from Suede over the phone.
She was then further devastated to hear police were dropping the investigation due to a lack of evidence.
She said: “I couldn’t stop crying. It wasn’t just the fact I’d lost a job I loved, I felt so betrayed.”
Gill, 45, helped Charlotte launch legal action against Nightspot Leisure Ltd, which owns Suede as well as other Manchester clubs.
She acted at the tribunal on behalf of Charlotte, who submitted written evidence after moving to Australia.
Charlotte was awarded £14,588 after the company did not contest the case.
Whether the status that the footballer had had something to do with the way in which they dealt with it, we will never know
Judge Kieth Robinson
Judge Keith Robinson told Liverpool county court: “This is something which should have been dealt with by the club immediately.
“Whether the status that the footballer had had something to do with the way in which they dealt with it, we will never know.
“The fact is a young woman in those circumstances should be protected from this sort of action and should be protected by their employer in a proper way.
“It doesn’t matter who the perpetrator of the incident is.
“I make no comment on the incident, save to say it happened as Miss Long described it.
"Her statement is very well reasoned. The employer has a duty to look after its employees.”
The judge said club bosses failed to show concern for her on the night of the incident and caused her further distress by sacking her.
Mrs Coombes told the judge: “Basically he grabbed her on the breast area, ripped her dress and slapped her.”
Stephanie Cochrane, representing the family, said that Suede nightclub bosses had promised Charlotte they would take care of her and would seek an apology from Lennon.
She said Lennon was initially thrown out by security, only to be re-admitted soon afterwards.
Miss Cochrane said Charlotte was fired for reporting the incident to the police, something she felt she had a responsibility to do.
And she said her employer was “dishonest” with Charlotte in the aftermath of the incident.
The Employment Tribunal judgment said Charlotte was unfairly dismissed.
It said she was sacked without notice and had money wrongly deducted from her pay.
It also said the nightclub failed to pay her holiday entitlement and that Charlotte suffered “detriments because she made public interest disclosures”.
Charlotte, who is studying beauty therapy in Australia, told The Sun on Sunday: “I’d always loved working in Suede. I was a part-time waitress there and the tips came in handy.
“In the time I was there I’d never felt threatened. If guests got touchy-feely I could report them to security and they’d deal with it so I always felt safe.
“My safety should have been the club’s priority.
"Instead they acted like my complaint was just an inconvenience for them.
"They knew what happened, but nobody seemed to care.
“But I’m happy the managers at Suede have finally been punished for the way they treated me.
My safety should have been the club’s priority. Instead they acted like my complaint was just an inconvenience for them. They knew what happened, but nobody seemed to care
“It feels like justice has been done and hopefully it will never happen to another employee.
“What kind of world do we live in where a young woman reports an attack and her employers turn a blind eye to keep on the right side of a footballer?
“It makes me sick, and I’m glad to finally expose them.”
A spokesman for Lennon said: “This was an allegation made to police, which they investigated and discontinued.”