16 February 2023 , 06:02
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A live-in male nanny was fired by his millionaire employer after he demanded she pay for surgery when he tore a ligament in his wrist chopping a lobster for her young son's dinner, an employment tribunal heard.
Brian Handford was tutoring Yulia Shkop's son after moving into their £5 million mansion on the exclusive Wentworth Estate of Ascot, which is home to Russian oligarchs, famous singers, and wealthy business owners.
However, Mr Handford's life at Ridge House, where he enjoyed access to the family's private pool and free tennis lessons, turned sour when he was asked to prepare lobsters delivered after the household chef had left.
Never having done it before, the nanny – who describes himself as a ‘Manny’ – had to watch YouTube videos on techniques for cooking the crustacean.
After Handford injured his right wrist cutting through the shell, requiring surgery and three months of rehabilitation, he expected Russian-speaking Ms Shkop to pay for his treatment.
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She was reluctant and the pair argued and then she banished him from her home and sacked him from his £36,000-a-year post.
The employment tribunal, held in Watford, heard how their working relationship broke down after the accident in February 2021.
The exclusive Wentworth Estate of Ascot (Surrey Advertiser)Mr Handford, who also had a photography business, joined Ridge House in September 2020, when – in the midst of the pandemic – the home was gripped by a strict “regime of isolation” designed to keep Shkop’s eight-year-old son safe.
The nanny was forbidden from leaving the estate and could not even visit a supermarket without having to isolate for five days.
Mr Handford had “a lot of fun” teaching the boy and dined with the family most evenings.
When two live lobsters were delivered to the house in large boxes filled with ice, Ms Shkop asked Mr Handford to cook them that evening, despite the chef having already gone home, specifying that he should freeze and cut them up before boiling them so that they would not scream and upset the child.
After calling the chef for advice, who directed him to a YouTube tutorial, the nanny set about trying to prepare the “unusual and expensive” food and tearing his scapholunate ligament by pressing down hard on the knife.
The injury required an operation followed by six weeks of complete immobilisation and another six weeks of physiotherapy.
He and Ms Shkop later got into an argument when she refused to take “any personal responsibility”, Mr Handford told the tribunal.
She moved Mr Handford out of the house and into a staff cottage elsewhere on the grounds because she was “drastically upset” by the situation and that her son had heard them arguing.
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Just two days later, on July 5, 2021, Handford was told to leave the premises entirely.
The tribunal accepted his version of events and rejected Ms Shkop’s claim that he hurt his wrist while performing a stroke in the swimming pool.
However, his claim of unfair dismissal failed because Shkop had a “loss of faith and trust” in him after their disagreement.
Employment judge Nathaniel Caiden said: “[Mr Handford] stated that he was asked by the Respondent to prepare the lobsters, having been asked to contact the chef to find out their shelf life and how best to prepare them.
"The tribunal prefers his account on this and finds he was asked in effect to prepare the lobsters once it was concluded there was a risk they would not last until the following day.
"[Ms Shkop] simply stated in her witness statement that she did not ask [him] to cook the lobsters, but she never explains why [he] would opt to cook such an unusual and expensive food.
“[Mr Handford] had no knowledge on how to cook lobsters and his own evidence was that he initially thought that they were boiled but instead following contact with the chef opted to stun them by freezing them.
"It was disputed whether the cause of the injury was the preparation of the lobsters. Once again, [we] accept it was the cause [because] there was no other competing explanation that made more sense.
"The suggestion that it was whilst hitting a hand in the swimming pool during the course of doing a stroke seems less likely as that would affect the fingers.
"[Ms Shkop] in live evidence actually stated ‘I don't doubt or question his version of events of how the injury to hand occurred’.
"Fundamentally, she was of the opinion that [Mr Handford] was arguing too much in the meeting [and] ignored in her view the generosity she had always offered.
"This may be classed as a loss of trust and confidence."
The tribunal also dismissed Mr Handford’s claim for an unlawful deduction of wages.
It ruled in favour of his claim that Ms Shkop was in breach of the requirement to provide an amended written statement of particulars, in relation to being unable to work due to sickness, but concluded he was not due any compensation.