Tax inspector lost job ‘after claiming Satan was on his PC’

AN HMRC tax fraud investigator claimed his computer needed to be doused with holy water after Satan had appeared on his system, an employment tribunal has been told.

Paul O’connor, a devout Christian, lost his job in Risk and Intelligence Services at HMRC after telling managers he had begun to see demons. He also urged one of his bosses to travel to Bosnia and be baptised as a cure for her chronic pain, the tribunal heard.

Mr O’connor frequently told colleagues of his pilgrimage to Medjugorje in Bosnia, which Catholics flock to due to its reputation as a site where an apparition of the Virgin Mary regularly appears. He also told managers that another member of staff needed to be “exorcised” as he was “full of evil”, the tribunal was told.

Mr O’connor was signed off work and when managers deemed he would not be fit to return “within a reasonable length of time”, the HMRC paid him 12 weeks’ notice and compensation of more than £25,000.

However, he maintained that they had discriminated against him due to his religious beliefs and took the HMRC to an employment tribunal. However, a judge dismissed all his claims, ruling that his managers had done everything they could to support him.

Mr O’connor had worked at HMRC’S Risk and Intelligence Services department at a branch in Glasgow. By May 2017, colleagues had become so concerned about him, they sought help.

He was given time off and told to see his GP but Mr O’connor said he “didn’t find it helpful because his GP was Hindu and did not believe what he had experienced in Medjugorje”, the tribunal was told.