A facilities manager has won £119,000 in compensation after being unfairly sacked over a false accusation that he had signed up to a "cougar dating" website using his work email. Chris Tweedie was dismissed for gross misconduct by Edenbeck Ltd in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, in December 2024, after his inbox allegedly received four emails from the site Hot Cougar Dates offering "cheap sex dates". An employment tribunal in Watford ruled that the company's investigation into his conduct had been carried out improperly and that he had been unfairly dismissed.

Mr Tweedie, who had worked at the firm since 2019, argued that he had become caught up in a power struggle between father and son directors Stuart and Chris Mayall, who had fallen out. He claimed he had been "victimised" for aligning himself with the son, and that the emails formed part of a "scattergun" attempt to force him out of the business. Bosses had held up the emails, along with an account allegedly featuring a "selfie" of him with a bare shoulder, as evidence of misuse of company computer and email facilities. Edenbeck provides services including asbestos removal and facilities management for government sites such as prisons.