TWO MAINTENANCE workers at the “squalid” Liverpool Prison who were sacked for raising safety concerns were unfairly dismissed, an employment tribunal has ruled.

John Bromilow and Harry Wildman, who had each worked at the jail for more than two decades, were fired by outsourcing company Amey after telling the prison governor about plans to get staff to carry out maintenance jobs alone instead of in pairs.

Painter-decorator Mr Bromilow, 66, told the BBC that the proposed changes were a safety risk as tools could be taken by prisoners.

He said: “I see it as a bag of tools, somebody else will see it as a bag of weapons.”

HMP Liverpool was the subject of a scathing report last month, which found drugs were readily available, communal areas were “decrepit” and that violence was increasing.

The pair raised concerns through an internal grievance procedure but, when that was unsuccessful, met the governor to tell him they were going to the Health and Safety Executive.

After two meetings with the governor, Amey suspended then sacked the pair, telling the tribunal that they had been “intent on making things difficult” for the company.

The company told the tribunal that the men’s actions had “the potential to be incredibly damaging” to its reputation, but employment judge Jonathan Holbrook ruled that the pair had acted in good faith.

He added that he thought it was “extraordinary” that Amey had not taken into account the men’s combined 45 years of service and perfect disciplinary record.

Mr Wildman, 64, said the ruling was a “vindication” of his fight against his unfair dismissal in November 2016.

Solicitor John Heath, who represented the pair, said the case was “scandalous”, adding that it was “one of the more startling examples of an unfair dismissal that I have come across.”

The tribunal will next consider if the men can return to their jobs and what compensation they are entitled to at a hearing in June.