A woman who worked with children was sacked when she raised the alarm about her boss, later unmasked as a paedophile.

Youth worker Sue Thomas, 48, first shared her fears about manager Michael Smith, 54, when they worked for Pembrokeshire County Council together in 2005.

She was accused of being ‘incapable of doing her job’ and sacked, while Smith – who was eventually jailed for child sex offences – was allowed to carry on working.

Sue Thomas, 48, was sacked over the ‘breakdown’ with her boss – only for him to be later unmasked as a paedophile (Picture: Wales News)

Mrs Thomas has won an apology along with a £1,000 donation to charity by council chiefs for their failure to act on her warnings.


An independent report found Smith had ‘displayed many grooming behaviours’ while working for the council.

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At the time Smith allegedly allowed a child to sit on his lap as he drove and allowed a young person to travel in his car unrestrained.



The allegations also related to a missing child turning up at his house.

Smith was given a formal warning but did not lose his job.

He faced a second disciplinary hearing in 2006 when he was handed another written warning and was finally sacked for gross misconduct in 2012 after a third disciplinary hearing.

Michael Smith, 54, was jailed for six years in 2014 for child sex offences against a boy (Picture: Wales News)

When Mrs Thomas originally emailed the council’s chief executive and the director of education in 2005, she had been met with a ‘dismissive’ reply.

Her complaint was seen to be ‘one of a personal nature about her relationships with others in her team’ and she was accused of ‘being incapable of undertaking the duties of her post’.

She was told to leave the council offices in Haverfordwest, Wales, with her sacking blamed on a ‘breakdown in her professional relationship with her line manager’ Smith.

Mrs Thomas said: ‘What people want to be confident about is that when things go wrong, everything possible is done to put things right, quickly and openly.

‘Whistleblowing should be accepted as an effective monitoring process in any organisation and should be valued accordingly.’

Smith was jailed for six years in 2014 for abusing a boy.

He admitted sexually assaulting a child under the age of 13, inciting the child to engage in sexual activity and taking indecent photographs of a child.

He also pleaded guilty to possessing 1,136 indecent images of children.

Council leader David Simpson said the authority offered a ‘sincere apology’ to Mrs Thomas, saying it was a ‘huge disappointment’ her complaint had been ignored.

The cabinet has agreed to pay £1,000 to a charity of Mrs Thomas’s choice.

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