Top City firm ‘left me at the mercy of my controlling ex-lover boss’

A WOMAN is suing Deloitte over claims the firm failed to protect her from a ‘controlling and manipulative’ male partner. Katrina Jones alleges that Christopher Holliday’s ‘oppressive and abusive’ behaviour caused her psychiatric harm. She also says that Deloitte’s investigation into her claims was designed to protect its own reputation and ensure Mr Holliday, 44, kept his job. Miss Jones joined the Big Four consulting firm as a risk and compliance analyst in 2015. She says that she began a relationship with Mr Holliday, a partner in the firm’s quality and risk team, in 2016 and moved into his flat, according to High Court documents obtained by the Financial Times. But she claims his behaviour was manipulative and ‘inextricably linked to [his] seniority and authority’ over her. Mr Holliday would often tell Miss Jones that he could have her dismissed and made her share her GPS location with him via her phone, the claim alleges. She says that Mr Holliday began acting in an ‘intimidatory’ manner when she ended the relationship in 2017. Mr Holliday is said to have self-reported the relationship to another partner after ‘rumours’ began circulating in the office, prompting an internal investigation in 2018. Two other employees later reported concerns about his behaviour towards Miss Jones, according to the FT. But Miss Jones criticised Deloitte’s investigation – which was led by a partner who worked closely with Mr Holliday – saying she was not kept informed about its progress or outcome. The legal claim alleges that the partner who led the investigation ignored ‘clear signs’ that Miss Jones was afraid of Mr Holliday, needed protection, and was at risk of suffering psychiatric injury.

It also says that Deloitte did nothing to stop the alleged behaviour of Mr Holliday, who continued to work at the firm as a ‘talent partner’ and was therefore able to involve himself in an application for a promotion by Miss Jones.

His role also meant that he was able to access her personal details on a HR database – even though she did not want him to know her new address.

She was signed off work by her doctor in October 2018 due to stress allegedly caused by Mr Holliday’s behaviour and Deloitte’s handling of her claims, according to the Financial Times.

Miss Jones no longer works for the company, which reported a 5.5 per cent rise in its global revenue for 2021 up to £37.2billion.

Mr Holliday left in December 2019 to run his own company and a pub in Kent, according to LinkedIn and Companies House records.

He appears to lead a lavish lifestyle, posting images of a boat and a motorbike he owns on social media. Last night, a spokesman for Deloitte said: ‘As this relates to ongoing legal proceedings it wouldn’t be appropriate to comment.’

The firm has not yet filed a defence in court.

Neither Mr Holliday nor Miss Jones could be reached for comment.

The bullying and harassment scandal is the latest to engulf one of the Big Four firms.

It emerged last month that a partner at Ernst & Young was allowed to keep his job despite telling a female trainee, ‘I am going to f*** you’ on a company ski trip.

But Neil Hutt, 51, who had been a partner for 16 years, later resigned following a staff backlash.

‘Oppressive and abusive’