Among several other allegations of misconduct, he was accused of making a derogatory reference to a colleague and shouting at others.

The majority of these allegations were either proved or partially proved, but the tribunal ruled that the unfair final written warning, given for the dispute over the royal story, played a large part in the dismissal decision.

Mr Bandara claimed he was unfairly targeted because of his views on the Tamil people being persecuted by the Sinhalese-dominated government of Sri Lanka.

A tribunal heard how Chandana, who has a Sinhalese father and Tamil mother, worked with a team who were mainly of Sinhalese heritage.

Mr Bandara was unsuccessful in his claims for race discrimination, but a tribunal found the final written warning was too severe a punishment, for an employee with such a good record, describing it as "manifestly inappropriate".

The tribunal said:

"On July 22nd the Duchess of Cambridge was admitted to hospital. "Prince George was born later that evening, but news of the birth was broken after the Sinhala Service had departed for the evening. "On the morning of July 23rd the claimant, still in charge, decided that he would not prioritise the royal birth story. "

He told us that was because the date was the 30th anniversary of Black July, a sombre time in Sri Lankan history.