Heather Mills 'delighted' as nanny's discrimination case is rejected

Heather Mills's former nanny has lost her claim of sexual discrimination and constructive dismissal against her.

Sara Trumble, 26, claimed Ms Mills reduced her to tears with the demands she placed on her and forced her to work long hours without extra pay.

The nanny, who was paid £260 a week by Ms Mills to look after her daughter Beatrice, now six, told an employment tribunal she felt she was a hard-working and loyal employee but her former boss took advantage of her.

Ms Trumble, who began working for Ms Mills in April 2004 when she was married to Sir Paul McCartney, said she handed in her notice in September 2008 after she was relegated to domestic duties on her return from maternity leave.

The three-day hearing at Ashford Employment Tribunal Centre in Kent, which began at the end of March, saw Ms Trumble claim compensation for sex and maternity discrimination, plus constructive dismissal.

However tribunal judge Steven Vowles dismissed the claims in his judgment, which was reserved until today.

Ms Mills, who lost a leg when she was hit by a police motorcyclist in 1993, told the tribunal she treated Ms Trumble "like a daughter" and showered her with gifts including a sports car.

She wept as she described how she met Ms Trumble while having beauty treatments at a health club near Sir Paul's estate in Rye, East Sussex, and took her on as a nanny to help her better herself.

She said that, if anything, she had been too accommodating with Ms Trumble when she took maternity leave to have her daughter Lily in 2007 and pointed out that Trumble asked her to become godmother to the child when she was born.

Ms Mills claimed she and the young nanny were "very close" but their relationship turned sour when she refused to give her £4,000 for breast enlargement surgery in the spring of 2008.

She denied Ms Trumble's claims that she relegated her to carrying out household chores after she returned from maternity leave, and said she only arranged new childcare for Beatrice after Ms Trumble had handed in her notice.

A spokeswoman for Mills said she was "delighted" with the result.