Photographer accused of bullying young prodigy

Dec 5 2009 by Alastair Craig, The Journal

A PHOTOGRAPHER to royalty and the stars drove a young prodigy to depression after a campaign of “bullying” over her weight, an employment tribunal heard.

Gemma Smith was overjoyed when international award-winner David Lawson gave her the big break to launch her dream career.

Ms Smith, 24, was hired by David Lawson Studios, in Sunderland, as an up-and-coming wedding photographer in March 2005.

But the dream was turned sour by regular taunts and stunts about her weight and appearance, the tribunal, on Newcastle’s Quayside, was told.

Ms Smith told the three-man judgement panel she was regularly “humiliated and upset” over the course of three years until she walked out in tears in February 2008.

Mr Lawson denies the claims.

But Ms Smith, from Shiney Row, alleges she was made to stand on scales in front of colleagues and write her weight onto a chart mounted in the studio’s staff area.

On other occasions, she claims her boss pinched her stomach to test her fat levels, threw her lunch in the bin if he deemed it fattening and held her in front of a mirror to disparage her appearance.

Mr Lawson, a fitness fanatic who counts former Prime Minister Tony Blair, one-time Bond Girl Honor Blackman, hit bands Take That and Oasis and Sunderland AFC as clients, denies the claims.

He has also pictured royalty in his 25-year career, taking portraits of Princess Diana in 1986 and winning a commission as the Duke of York’s official photographer in 1997.

The four-day hearing concluded yesterday, and Ms Smith is seeking damages for sexual discrimination and unfair dismissal against Mr Lawson. She said: “David has acted in an unacceptable way towards me. He would make me weigh myself at work in front of other employees and he would do this on a frequent basis.

“Initially I went along with this as I was embarrassed and I did not feel that I had any choice in the matter.

“One time I remember that David physically forced me onto the weighing scales when I didn’t want to.

“A ‘weight chart’ was devised by him and I did write on to it and I drew pictures of us on to it to try and make fun of the situation but I found it humiliating and embarrassing.

“The ‘weight chart’ was on the white board where everyone could see it.