A former Royal Marine from Perthshire who accused the Ministry of Defence of intimidation and discrimination has had his case thrown out by an employment tribunal in Dundee.
Lieutenant Colonel Mark McKinney (47), of Latch Burn Wynd, Dunning, raised an action against eight senior government and MoD personnel over his dismissal as staff officer for civil military cooperation in the Royal Marine Reserve.
He was voluntarily running deer management services for the MoD and complained to senior army commanders, including Timothy Lawrence, husband of Princess Anne, that £1,600 was unnecessarily being paid to private contractors to assess deer populations on MoD land in Scotland.
His protest led to him being asked to a meeting where he was sacked. He raised employment tribunal proceedings against a group of senior figures.
In a judgment published, judge Mr C Lucas ruled that, under the Employment Rights Act, the tribunal did not have jurisdiction to hear the complaints of unfair dismissal or breach of contract.
Under the samelegislation the tribunal did not have jurisdiction to consider Lt Col McKinney’s complaint that he was subject to detriment by any act, or failure to act, by his employer on the ground that he had made a protected disclosure.