Chef wins Sting discrimination case

Miss Martin won her case against the couple at an employment tribunal in Southampton after she claimed she was sacked by Miss Styler from their estate in Wiltshire because she became pregnant.

But the Lake House Estate, which was the named party in the case, has already won the right to appeal against the ruling and compensation amount.

A spokesman for Ms Styler said: "The financial award made by the tribunal to Jane Martin is virtually meaningless since the whole case is subject to appeal which was granted in response to our submission that the original hearing displayed bias against Trudie. It remains Trudie's position that she, as a woman and a mother, has never in her life sexually discriminated against anyone and never would do so."

Miss Martin, 41, from Winchester, Hampshire, was employed by the couple for eight years as a chef on £28,000 a year, cooking for people such as Madonna and Sir Elton John with no expense spared and on a budget of hundreds of thousands of pounds. On one occasion she had travelled from Wiltshire to London to cook a bowl of pasta for Sting and Styler's children.

But she claimed to the tribunal that things started to go wrong when she became pregnant in 2005. She said Ms Styler was unhappy with her when she took time off work with a stomach bug.

Shortly afterwards, Ms Styler was alleged to have said: "Who the f*** does she think she is? She's my chef in the UK. She needs to be available if I need her, or she should rethink her position."

After this, Ms Martin said, Ms Styler's attitude towards her changed and on her 40th birthday she received eight tulips from the couple when on previous occasions she had received a Hermes watch, Tiffany jewellery and a ruby and sapphire necklace.

She said staff at the couple's 300-acre Wiltshire mansion, Lake House, were in fear of Ms Styler, who she accused of having a "grandiose ego" and wanted to be treated in a "royal manner beyond her station as an actress". Staff from the couple's management company, Lake House Estate, which employed Miss Martin, then said she would be made redundant as the couple did not require so many chefs, but the process was unlawful. Miss Martin left her job in April last year but the tribunal panel said Ms Styler was behind the unlawful dismissal.

Miss Martin, who gave birth to a boy who is now two years old, also told the tribunal that the stress of her work for Ms Styler made her fear that she would have a miscarriage.