Billionaire inventor Sir James Dyson suing ex-PA for £50,000 after she ‘plundered’ family and business secrets
BILLIONAIRE inventor Sir James Dyson is suing his ex-PA for £50,000 amid claims she plundered family and business secrets.
The entrepreneur, 72, accuses Lynette Flanders of stealing more than 5,000 emails, taping staff and taking photos inside his £20million mansion.
He also accuses her of taking his wife’s medical records.
Mrs Flanders, 50, denies the “vague and embarrassing” allegations. Details of the feud emerged in papers filed at London’s High Court.
Sir James, famed for his vacuum cleaners and hand dryers, launched the lawsuit with wife Lady Deirdre, 76, in October after conducting their own IT probe.
Lawyers for the couple, worth £7.8billion according to last year’s Sunday Times Rich List, say Mrs Flanders first joined the family’s 100-strong staff as a cleaner in 2007.
She rose to become a house manager at Dodington Park, Gloucs, on £35,000 a year.
Lawyers for Sir James say the job gave Mrs Flanders “extensive access to . . . private and confidential information”.
Before being made redundant last August they say Mrs Flanders downloaded 5,000 emails and sent five photos taken inside Dodington Park to her private email address.
They say she also made a secret tape recording of two senior estate staff and downloaded Lady Deirdre’s medical records.
The Dysons are demanding up to £50,000 in damages for breach of contract, breach of confidence, misuse of private information and for the distress and anxiety caused.
In a defence filed by Mrs Flanders, she denies the claims. Her lawyers say she properly downloaded emails and took photos while cleaning to remind herself where certain objects had stood.
They argue she recorded staff to remember the conversation and downloaded Lady Dyson’s medical records as an “aide memoir”.
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