A former butler has received a substantial sum in compensation after he took an Oxford college to court.

Exeter College made the undisclosed out-of-court settlement after an employment tribunal found that Stephen Slade, had been unfairly dismissed, and discriminated against.

Mr Slade, who lives in Cowley, had been off with depression when he was sacked by email the day before he had arranged to return to his job.

The tribunal said the way he had been dismissed had been unfair, and that he had suffered disability discrimination because he had been sacked because of his depression.

Exeter College was also told it had discriminated against Mr Slade by refusing a reasonable request for a change in his working hours.

Mr Slade had asked to do a straight eight-hour shift, rather than a split shift which ran from 8am till noon, and 4pm until 8pm, with a four-hour break in the middle.

He said: "I felt obliged to work through the split because I had so much to do, so I was effectively working 12 hours a day."

Mr Slade, who joined Exeter College in 1996, first took time off work in January 2002. The 56-year-old believes his depression had been brought on by stress, after he worked the busy Christmas period without an assistant, sometimes working an 80-hour week.

Exeter College declined to comment on the case.