03 Jan 1997
An ICL system designer is claiming unfair dismissal after being sacked for downloading hard-core pornography from the Internet.
Leslie Wren, a 26-year veteran with the firm, admitted accessing the sex sites for three months when confronted by his boss at the company's Manchester offices, but he believes it was not made clear that his actions constituted a sackable offence, an industrial tribunal heard.
Geoffrey Hopcroft, director of services and businesses at ICL, said Wren committed gross misconduct after ignoring warnings about misuse of company equipment.
Wren was sacked in June after an investigation into Internet use revealed a large amount of the company's traffic involved pornographic sites. Hopcroft said it could have damaged ICL's reputation. 'Mr Wren was fully aware of what he was doing,' he said.
Roger Jeary, acting for Wren, said his client had stopped the practice as soon as he heard it was unacceptable.
The tribunal has been adjourned until 3 March 1997.
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