Since 2008, we've been reporting on the case of John Yapp, the former British High Commissioner to Belize who was abruptly relieved of his post and sent home after a complaint emerged that he'd behaved inappropriately – specifically that he'd touched a woman's behind at a cocktail party. For years, rumours circulated as to who that woman may have been – but now, a judgment in British Court has been handed down – and it says the woman was Denise Courtenay and the man who complained about it was her husband, Eamon Courtenay.
The 42 page judgment arises out of a lawsuit Yapp filed against the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, saying that he had been unjustly dismissed from his Belize posting. The judgment discloses the details of confidential conversations Courtenay had with Foreign Office Staff. The Courtenay Allegations, as they are called, were put into an e-mail which says, quote, "at private events the claimant had acted inappropriately with women, including touching Mrs Denise Courtenay's bottom, and so people were no longer prepared to invite him to events.
The mail also lists six other allegations in which Courtenay is alleged to have said he had declined to attend events at the High Commission during the visit of (a British) Minister, and that quote, "Mr Courtenay commented that the sooner the claimant left Belize the better."
There were also allegations of harassment and bullying of staff, but ti seems the allegation of sexual misconduct were the most defining one as "(the) concern with the allegations about the claimant's sexual misconduct, not with his treatment of High Commission staff."
But Courtenay's Allegations came under scrutiny, former high commissioner Phillip known to be one of the most over-sensitive persons in Belize. Also, an investigator from the British Foreign office reported that he had raised the issue of sexual misconduct with seven persons, both inside and outside the High Commission, and none had witnessed any of what Mr Courtenay had alleged.
Eventually, his allegation was regarded as lacking in credibility and that, quote, "what Mr Courtenay said on this topic was, in fact, nonsense."
The British judge found that Yapp's contract was breached and he is entitled to damages.
Eamon Courtenay had no comment when we reached him today.
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