A football steward has been awarded more than £8,000 in court after he was wrongly sacked under his club's "Orwellian" disciplinary policy.
Gennaro Romano was sacked by Norwich City Football Club in October 2023 after he sent mocked-up images of Diane Abbott and Nicola Sturgeon, as well as comments about Russell Brand, to the head of the academy.
An employment tribunal heard the steward apologised multiple times and said he forwarded the massages on WhatsApp by accident.
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The club sacked Mr Romano for breaching disciplinary policies, in a decision "riddled with unfairness".
The 49-year-old had been working as a steward on matchdays since 2011 alongside his main job at Royal Mail, and had a 12-year unblemished record, the tribunal in Norwich was told.
However, he was accused of sending "messages of an inappropriate nature" to Neil Hunter, head of the club's academy operations, in September 2023.
The photos featured former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and MP Diane Abbott, alongside captions about actor Russell Brand.
Gennaro Romano was sacked by Norwich City Football Club in October 2023
|GETTY
The tribunal said: "This was at the time when the media was reporting that allegations of sexual assault were being made against Russell Brand."
Mr Romano was shown a screenshot of the two images received by Mr Hunter at a meeting with the club.
However, he claimed he had forwarded them to his colleague by accident, and instead had meant to send the photos to a friend of his, also called Neil, the tribunal was told.
The tribunal heard that the Carrow Road steward apologised a number of times throughout the process, admitting the pictures were "not nice".
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The photos sent featured former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and MP Diane Abbott
|PA
At the club's disciplinary hearing in October 2023, he said: "It does not define me, these two pictures."
Despite this, club managers declared that Mr Romano had not shown "sufficient understanding or remorse", and sacked him.
The tribunal upheld his claim, saying the club's decision-making progress had been "riddled with unfairness".
It declared: "It was not one which any reasonable employer would have taken.
"If the club intends its disciplinary policy to have such an extensive, some might say Orwellian, reach, then it is incumbent on it to make that position clear."
Mr Romano was awarded £8,300 by the tribunal.
However, his claim of race discrimination on the grounds that he is Italian and English is his second language was dismissed.
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