A whistleblower who was unfairly sacked after raising concerns about his employer has been awarded record compensation of more than £685,000.

It’s believed to be the largest damages ever awarded by an employment tribunal in the island.

Robert Sutton, 32, was employed as a portfolio manager by Creechurch Capital Ltd from 2013 until February 2016 when he lost his £42,000-a-year job.

CCL, part of the Knox Group of Companies founded by multi-millionaire Doug Barrowman, claimed Mr Sutton was dismissed for gross misconduct for using the social media platform WhatsApp to talk to clients.

But the employment tribunal found he was sacked for discussing concerns about the company with the regulator, the Financial Services Authority.

Awarding compensation totalling £685,339 plus interest, including exemplary damages of £75,000, the tribunal said it considered this justifiable ’given the persistent and exceptional deliberate course of misconduct by the respondent until the conclusion of the review process’.

It said the respondent had acted ’vexatiously, abusively (to the due process of law) and otherwise unreasonably’ in their conduct at the original hearing and on the review.

Mr Sutton told the Manx Independent from his home in Douglas: ’I am naturally pleased with the award but I know I am still a long way from a resolution to this case.

’Aside for any implications to my own personal situation, this is a hugely important case to financial services on the Isle of Man.

’It is also a hugely positive step for the evolution of protections for whistleblowers and the advancement of employment law generally.’

The tribunal ruled that Mr Sutton was unfairly dismissed because of protected disclosures he had made.

He said his former employer had attempted to make him a ’scapegoat’ and present him as a ’lone rogue’ - their motive being to deflect attention from their own failures and shortcomings

Mr Sutton had made a suspicious transaction report to the regulator in May 2015, which included the concern that CCL’s records had been falsified in relation to the company’s dealings with two clients, referred by to the tribunal for reasons of confidentiality as L and P.

He was also interviewed by the FSA during a three-day routine inspection visit by the regulator to CCL in December 2015 where he was asked to produce a transcript of his WhatsApp communications with P since June 2015.

A draft report by the FSA sent to CCL in February 2016 listed nine ’red’ significant breaches by the company of its rules, and four further ’amber’ important breaches.

Company secretary and chief operating officer Mary Brady testified that none of the directors at the time had been approached by the claimant with any concerns of legal or regulatory malpractice.

She claimed Mr Sutton had made ’no attempt whatsoever’ to engage in the whistleblowing process either to his manager or to any directors.

Mrs Brady said the claimant’s use of WhatsApp had not been sanctioned and he had been acting outside his own procedure.

But the tribunal found that the use of WhatsApp messages had not been a major issue but ’a walk-on part’ - and the trigger for the start of the process leading to Mr Sutton’s dismissal was the arrival of the FSA report.

Mr Sutton thanked those who had supported him throughout his ordeal, particularly his family and friends, post-dismissal employers and advocates MannBenham, who he said had done an ’absolutely sterling’ job.