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Ciscom ‘hate email’ employee back in court

Six months ago he hacked his ex-employers system to send hate emails, now they want £5k training costs back

A Ciscom employee found guilty of hacking into his former employer's system to send abusive emails, has found himself in court for the second time in five weeks. Neil Campbell appeared at Shrewsbury Employment Tribunal Office last Friday. He was ordered to pay his former employer, TNS Distribution, over £5000 for training costs. TNS paid for Campbell's CCIE (Certified Cisco Internet Expert) training on condition that he stayed with them for a minimum of two years. He broke the contract and left last October owing the company thousands, according to TNS MD Mike Harris. TNS deducted some of the cash owed from Campbell's last salary payment, and took legal proceedings against him for the rest. At Friday's tribunal, Campbell and fellow ex-TNS employee Steve Knight –- who is also now employed by Ciscom -- were ordered to re-pay around £5,000 each to TNS within 28 days. This is Campbell's second time in the dock this summer. In June he was fined £1000 for sending a sexually abusive email and hacking into TNS' network to disguise his identity. Campbell was given a warning by Middlesex-based reseller Ciscom, but was allowed to keep his job, as they said his qualifications made him too valuable to dismiss, despite his unlawful behaviour. A Ciscom representative described TNS' actions to recover the money it had spent training Campbell and Knight as "childish". "We knew when we took Neil onboard about the bitterness between him and TNS," she said. "At the end of the day he's a very good engineer," she added. ®

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