Children’s chef Annabel Karmel 'only employed good-looking men and fired employee after he rejected her sexual advances'

Salesman Mark Salter, 38, settles case with TV Chef Annabel Karmel, 57

Ms Karmel, 57, allegedly fired Mr Salter after he rejected her advances



Chef invited 39-year-old abroad as 'personal chaperone', a tribunal heard

Reportedly made inappropriate sexual remarks and dressed provocatively

Also asked him if he would accompany her to Playboy Club, it is claimed



Allegations were revealed today after a previous reporting ban was lifted

The children's chef 'vehemently denies' the allegations against her



Karmel known for writing cookery books for children and appearing on TV



Accused: Annabel Karmel, 57, fired an employee after he rejected her sexual advances and only hired good-looking men, an employment tribunal has heard

She has made millions from her wholesome image as a mother and homemaker.

But Annabel Karmel has been accused of being a sexual bully who fired an employee, 18 years her junior, when he spurned her advances.

The 57-year-old, who writes books on children’s food, was alleged to have made sexual comments to Mark Salter.

The 39-year-old had told an employment tribunal that she wore provocative clothing in a bid to seduce him before dismissing him last July – just four months after he joined her firm.

Mrs Karmel had tried to keep the hearing secret, obtaining a gagging order preventing publication of her name, her company’s name and the name of her former employee.

Her legal team argued that her reputation and status as a ‘well-known media personality’ would be irreparably damaged regardless of the outcome of the case because it involved an allegation of sexual misconduct.

But the Daily Mail successfully challenged the order. Employment judge James Tayler ruled it was ‘patronising to the British public to assume that they are incapable of understanding that an allegation is just that until it has been proved’.

The judge said ‘the fact that a hearing will involve the airing of information that is personal and embarrassing and engages the qualified right to respect for private and family life’ is not ‘sufficient to outweigh the principle of open justice’.

Mrs Karmel contested all the allegations made at the four-day employment tribunal hearing in central London.

And last night she agreed terms with her former sales manager following hours of legal wrangling.

He withdrew his claim of sexual misconduct as part of an undisclosed settlement. In a statement issued through her lawyers, Mrs Karmel said: ‘Mark Salter has withdrawn his employment tribunal claim and unreservedly retracted the allegations against me.

Writer: Karmel, who was awarded an MBE in 2006, invited 39-year-old Mark Salter abroad on work trips as a 'personal chaperone', the hearing in London was told. Above, the cookery writer with her puppy Sabre last year Mark Salter, who was in charge of sales for the company that handles Karmel's business, brought the sexual harassment, racism and religious discrimination lawsuit against Karmel last year after he was sacked



Mr Salter, 39, claimed that resisting the married mother-of-three’s suggestive behaviour towards him - including deliberately provocative clothing and inappropriate sexual comments - had cost him his job



‘I have defended his claim throughout and am glad this has now been resolved. It has been agreed that neither party will make any further comment on this matter.’

It has been reported that Mr Salter claimed the celebrity author ‘only employed good-looking men’ and made inappropriate comments about his good looks in front of clients.



The Mail on Sunday reported – without identifying either party – that Mr Salter had accused his former boss of inviting him on two foreign work trips, which he did not attend, as her ‘personal chaperone’ and invited him to join her on a visit to a Playboy club.

Mr Salter was also reported to have alleged that she had confided in him that she was having an affair and once tried to set him up on a date with a celebrity friend.

Mrs Karmel appeared at the hearing yesterday dressed in a scarlet red, fitted jacket, black shirt, black stockings and black stiletto heels.

Claims: She also allegedly tried to set him up with a celebrity friend and told him that she having an affair

At work: The allegations were revealed today after a previous reporting ban - restricting the press from identifying Karmel and Mr Salter - was lifted. Above, Karmel is pictured with Stena Line chef Chris Evans

In between discussions with her legal team she found time to tweet nutritional advice for babies and young children, urging mothers to ‘keep food in large chunks’ for youngsters to hold on to.

The food guru has published 37 books, is regularly on television, radio and in the Press and her business has expanded to include baby products and ready meals. Mrs Karmel says she was inspired to create healthy meals following the death of her first child, Natasha, and because of her son Nicholas’s fussy eating habits. She has two other grown-up children.

Divorced from their father, oil broker Simon Karmel, she lives in a £20million home in one of London’s most sought after districts with film producer partner Stephen Margolis.