A WOMAN rejected the advances of a member of staff at a pharmaceutical company because he was a "very powerful man, with very powerful friends", a tribunal heard yesterday.

The male worker at GlaxoSmithKline's Barnard Castle factory, in County Durham, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has taken the company to tribunal for the way it dealt with allegations of sexual harassment made against him by the female employee - which ended in him being given a final written warning - but which were later dropped.

The tribunal heard how the worker's wife had warned him that she thought the female employee "was trouble".

She described how her husband had been upset by the allegations, adding: "One night I got up to find him in the living room surrounded by photographs of all the people he loves and tablets lined up on the table. I now keep the medicine cabinet locked."

She said he no longer visited the town because of the rumours that had circulated.

She also described how the family was plagued by malicious telephone calls made by a woman putting on a "silly voice".

On one occasion, she traced a call and when her husband dialled it, he said it was the father of the woman who had made the allegations against him.

But his wife admitted they no longer had the number, nor had they been able to find it on their telephone bill.

The woman who made the allegations also gave evidence yesterday. She said: "He certainly said he had strong feelings for me and wanted to go to bed with me."

She said she also became very concerned about what he would do as a result of her rejecting his advances.

The tribunal continues.