An Irish police photographer has won nearly £45000 after he was subjected to a campaign of intimidation by his police colleagues for marrying a Catholic woman, the BBC reports.

A tribunal heard that two officers of the Police Service of Northern Ireland tried to make Stephen Murphy’s life “as difficult as possible” and to force him to leave the service.

The court was told that Murphy had been subjected to a catalogue of abuse, including calling his wife a ‘whore’ and a ‘lunatic’. He was also deliberately given unfavourable hours to work.

In its ruling, the tribunal said: “The reason why the treatment was afforded to the claimant is clear. It was because he was engaged to and subsequently married a Catholic.

“The decision was made to attempt to force the claimant out of the police, or at least from Knocknagoney police station. On foot of that decision, steps were taken over a number of years to bring that about.”

The PSNI were not in attendance nor were they represented at the fair employment tribunal.