Amber Harrison scandal: Lover got $427k to ‘shut up’

AS her affair with Channel Seven boss Tim Worner crumbled, spurned lover Amber Harrison sent emails to another employee threatening to “destroy your idiot boss”, a court has been told.

Amber Harrison is now unemployed and receiving financial help from her family and left wondering where she will find employment again. Picture: John Grainger

AS her affair with Channel Seven boss Tim Worner crumbled, spurned lover Amber Harrison sent emails to another employee threatening to “destroy your idiot boss,” and to launch “a reign of terror ­unlike what has been felt before”, a court was told yesterday.

Seven barrister Andrew Bell SC ­revealed the emails at a Supreme Court hearing where the broadcaster is applying for a permanent gag order on Ms Harrison to stop her from continuing to release sensitive and confidential documents related to Seven.

A day after The Daily Telegraph ­revealed the former high-flying executive assistant is now broke and living off the generosity of her family in Melbourne, Harrison chose not to fly to Sydney to face the hearing, leaving it to her lawyers to fight Seven’s application to stop her speaking to the media.

Amber Harrison was due to travel to Sydney today to appear at the Supreme Court. Picture: John Grainger

The court heard Ms Harrison had written in the emails “he knows I’m out to get him” and “this is now war”. Mr Bell said the emails showed Ms Harrison had “intent to damage and to cause ongoing harm” to Seven.

Amber Harrison is the former mistress of Seven West CEO Tim Worner.

READ MORE: BROKE, LONELY AND RUEING AFFAIR

Harrison’s   lawyer    James     Catlin ­­accused Seven of using a temporary court gag order to launch “a full-scale media campaign against her” in which Seven chairman Kerry Stokes and high-profile board member Jeff Kennett said she was “a thief”. In an affidavit tendered to court, Ms Harrison said she began having an affair with Mr Worner in December 2012.

But a year later, when Ms Harrison, who was executive assistant for Pacific Magazine boss Nick Chan, was transferred to the same offices where Mr Worner worked, everything changed. “(It) became uncomfortable for a number of reasons, including because of gossip regarding his personal life and also I felt he was ignoring me and disregarding me during work hours,” Ms Harrison wrote.

KERRY STOKES DEFENDS CEO OVER AMBER HARRISON

She said when she heard gossip that Mr Worner had slept with another woman she sent him an angry text, the contents of which were partly censored by the court but included the words: “F… me Tim. You are right. You are busy.”

Ms Harrison has been gagged by court order.

Mr Worner’s emails were allegedly accessed.

Ms Harrison claims days after she sent that text, an internal investigation began into her use of a corporate credit card which would ultimately lead to her being accused of stealing $262,000; an allegation she denies. Her affidavit states she was made redundant in November 2014 and signed a deed of release in which she was paid $100,000 to keep quiet about her affair.

Mr Bell told the court Ms Harrison was paid a total of $427,418 in ­exchange for signing the deed in which she agreed “not to make any statement about the relationship publicly” or “publicly disparage or bring into disrepute the company”.

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Ms Harrison is now unemployed and receiving financial help from her family and left wondering where she will find employment again. Picture: John Grainger