A former Ann Summers employee

A former Ann Summers employee, who claimed she had been publicly accused of trying to steal a French maid’s outfit from the erotica shop, has been awarded 17,000 damages for defamation of character.

The Circuit Civil Court heard it was a see-through parcel in shop assistant Michelle O’Neill’s shoulder bag that had led another member of staff to mistakenly assume O’Neill was stealing a maid’s black and white kinky outfit.

Barrister Michael Fox, counsel for O’Neill, of Killester Avenue, Artane, Dublin, told Mr Justice Matthew Deery that the suspect item, wrapped in a plastic bag, turned out to be a black and white dress belonging to Ms O’Neill.

He said Gloria Kangstrom, who had searched Ms O’Neill’s bag, had lifted the parcel from it and asked: “A maid’s outfit?” After discovering her mistake she said to other staff: “Oh! I thought it was a French maid’s outfit in her bag.”

Mr Fox said the words had been spoken loudly and dramatically in the presence of other employees and customers in the Lower O’Connell Street, Dublin, store, defaming Ms O’Neill.

O’Neill told the court that when she joined Ann Summers she signed a contract of employment in which she agreed that on leaving the shop on a daily basis she, like other members of staff, would open their bags and show the contents to whoever was on the till at the door.

She said the contract also included a clause which noted her agreement to her shop locker being checked randomly. The agreement specifically stated that while another member of staff could look they could not touch or delve into personal belongings.

On June 23 last year she had been leaving the store after work and had unzipped her shoulder bag so that Gloria (Ms Kangstrom) could inspect it. She had looked into it, had seen the parcel, lifted it out and had spoken the defamatory words.

Ms O’Neill told Joe Jeffers, counsel for Ann Summers, that the store had been experiencing shoplifting and there had been a suspicion of staff theft. Each employee had received specific training on product security and dealing with suspected shoplifters.