The former manager of the charity that runs the Landmark Centre in Deal can now rebuild her career after winning her case against a “ruthless” unfair dismissal.

A tribunal at Ashford Courts and Tribunal Service found Paula Moorhouse unfairly lost her job at Deal and Walmer Community Association (DWCA) in September last year.

She was awarded a total of £9,446.20 in compensation but some of her pay-out will have to repay benefits she received while the tribunal was prepared.

It was a ruthless dismissal and no procedures whatsoever were followed

In a packed office and being watched over by 13 people, Miss Moorhouse was handed a letter in July last year informing her she had been suspended. But the letter, signed by the charity’s new chairman David Manning, did not give her any clear reason, just that allegations had been made.

He requested she attend a meeting in August, but the DWCA solicitor advised her not to attend, and he wrote to Mr Manning telling him she was not going.

A month later in September, she still had not been told the outcome of the meeting, and when she emailed Mr Manning, asking to know if she still had her job, she was told she had “dismissed herself” by not attending.

The judge at the April hearing said it was a “ruthless dismissal and no procedures whatsoever were followed”.

She was awarded £4,605 for unfair dismissal and there were seven other counts she was compensated for including one that was added by the judge himself.

Miss Moorhouse now lives in Eythorne because she was not paid during her suspension and could not afford her rent.

She said the whole process has been humiliating.

“Now the case is over I feel I can walk through the High Street with my head held high. I want my name cleared,” she said.

Miss Moorhouse was employed by DWCA in 2007 as project manager for the Cleary Club which helps people with disabilities and illnesses.

After the death of Keith Turner in 2011, she became manager of the Landmark Centre.

In the months leading up to her dismissal trustees of the charity were replaced after a vote of no confidence was recorded at a meeting which was said to have been illegal. Mr Manning took over as chairman of the trustees.

Before her suspension Miss Moorhouse was accused of fraud – a claim which police looked into and discredited.

She said: “I was 100% committed. I hardly ever saw my family so they came to me there.

“When I made a commitment to that charity I made a commitment to the community, the customers and members of the public who came in to use the service.

“I thrived on the hard work and the challenge.

“It was a very difficult decision for me to take the case to employment tribunal. However, in my heart I had to remind myself the case, in my mind, was against David Manning and the ‘working party’ not the DWCA.”

Miss Moorhouse is now looking for work as a step towards rebuilding her life.