A FORMER deputy headteacher who won an unfair dismissal case after claiming he was mistreated by his boss has called on the Government to outlaw bullying in the workplace.

Geoff Hetherington, 49, spoke out after an industrial tribunal ordered Darlington Borough Council to pay him £15,142 compensation.

Mr Hetherington, who won his case after being sacked from Redmarshall and Bishopton Primary School, near Darlington, said: "Bullying should be made illegal to protect workers against the abuse of power.

"Although I was driven to a breakdown which led to my dismissal on medical grounds, I was not able to bring this case on the grounds of the bullying I had been subject to.

"I only won a hearing because the education authority had not followed the correct procedures."

The tribunal had heard earlier that Mr Hetherington, of Stockton, had been happy in his job until the arrival of new headmistress Gill Wray. He said his job became a nightmare, as she implemented new teaching plans which left him needing psychiatric treatment.

The tribunal was told Mrs Wray would regularly sit in on her deputy's classes taking copious notes. Then, without informing Mr Hetherington, she wrote to an occupational health unit raising concern that her deputy's poor hearing posed a danger to children.

However, the tribunal was told that Ofsted inspectors failed to find any problem with Mr Hetherington's hearing.

Mr Hetherington said yesterday: "It became so intolerable that when I arrived at school I would sit in the car shaking and having palpitations."

In 1997, an occupational therapist concluded the deputy was suffering from "considerable stress" as a result of his treatment at work.

He was sacked in 1999 on the grounds that he was incapable of work due to long-term sickness.

Meanwhile, a website set up by Mr Hetherington's wife Gill for people who have been bullied at work has attracted 3,000 visits.

Mr Hetherington said: "It has shown that the problem is rife in the teaching profession, as well as in the NHS and legal professions."

Mrs Hetherington, who has written to Education and Employment Secretary David Blunkett, urging him to outlaw bullying, said: "No one should have to suffer the way my husband has."

A spokesman for Darlington Borough Council said: "We will stick by the decision of the tribunal."