I was treated like a joke - hotel worker

Annabel Newton says the apology promised by England rugby management has not been forthcoming. Photo / Splash

The Dunedin woman who claims she was harassed by English rugby players says her complaint was not motivated by money but because she had been "humiliated and treated as a joke".

Annabel Newton says several players spoke inappropriately to her. One took her walkie-talkie from a trolley she was pushing. She was told to get it back by going to player James Haskell's room to retrieve it.

Once inside the room, Ms Newton alleges, she was subjected to comments that left her feeling distressed and humiliated.

The players - Haskell, Chris Ashton and Dylan Hartley - all deny any wrongdoing, although Haskell and Ashton were both fined by the English Rugby Football Union (RFU).

The alleged incident occurred at Dunedin's Southern Cross Hotel where the team were based during the Rugby World Cup. Ms Newton had worked at the hotel for nine months.

Reports from the United Kingdom at the weekend said the RFU tried to buy her silence with a payment of $30,000.

However, Ms Newton responded yesterday by saying she had not received a cent from the RFU or the players and was yet to receive a proper apology.

She met with then England coach Martin Johnston and management before they left Dunedin and they assured her that they would pay her legal fees up until that point and that she would get an apology.

"Unfortunately the apology was not forthcoming as expected and I felt very distressed about this, especially when the team left the hotel and Dunedin on Sunday, September 25," she told the Herald.

It became "clear" to her that she could not stay working at the hotel and felt the players should make a payment to her because if it hadn't been for them she would have stayed there happily. So she asked her lawyer to put forward an offer on her behalf.

"Money was not my motivation in raising my complaint in the first place. I did so because my feelings had been hurt. I'd been humiliated and treated as a joke and that was just not right. The players may have regarded their talk as lighthearted banter, but I certainly did not."

Ms Newton said the RFU did not pay her legal fees in the end and she did not receive any money or a proper apology from the players.

"I was surprised to hear that the RFU had disciplined the players but that it had found my allegations 'entirely false'.

"If they were indeed false, why the discipline and penalty? It is not clear to me what the actual findings were - how exactly James and Chris were found to have breached the Code of Conduct - but as it is, I stand by all I have said as totally true."

The RFU could not be contacted yesterday, but according to the London Times, an anonymous player said they refused to pay because they hadn't done what Ms Newton claimed they had.

The players said they had made an inappropriate joke but nothing more serious.