'I thought Lord Ranger would listen – but he called me a liar and a scumbag'

When, in 2017, Harvey Weinstein was publicly accused of sexually assaulting women, it was the start of a shift in attitudes to sexual harassment around the world.

But sitting in the gloom of the Holiday Inn in Watford, Ms A said she did not feel the #MeToo movement changed anything for women like her.

"#MeToo didn't help vulnerable people. It didn't help. It didn't help people like me who are on visas… people in need," she said.

The woman sitting before me was reflecting on the sexual harassment she claimed she had endured whilst working at Sun Mark, and – even worse in her eyes – the behaviour of its executives and its chairman, Lord Ranger, when she went to them for help.

"They thought I need the visa so they can say anything to me," she said. "And they did say anything to me. What they said, it is not tolerable. That threatening call, ma'am. Thank God I have proof. Otherwise nobody will trust me."

As the Watford tribunal found in September, Lord Ranger and his son-in-law Harmeet Ahuja, Sun Mark's chairman, both "victimised" Ms A when she told them she was being harassed by married colleague Kapil Sharma.

Minutes after she had telephoned Lord Ranger with her complaint, he hurled abuse at her in Punjabi, telling her in a call she partially recorded that she was a liar and a "scumbag". Ms A wept as she recalled the encounter and, even after her victory in court, feels she has been short-changed on justice.

Lord Ranger and Mr Ahuja have both been granted permission to appeal the findings. Lord Ranger strongly denies the allegations Ms A made against him. Mr Sharma was never suspended. Sun Mark said it had reopened an investigation into the allegations against Mr Sharma but will await the outcome of his planned application to appeal before it considers any disciplinary action.

The firm has also issued a statement claiming that she acted in "bad faith" and had provoked Lord Ranger on the call before she started recording. His reaction left her shocked. She said: "I thought, at least, he is a lord. He is a person who should listen to everybody. Because this is a country where everybody is equal."

At a hearing, she claimed Mr Sharma's harassment was accompanied by assault – that he groped her breast and at one point threatened to rape her. Those claims were not upheld by the court and the point about rape was specifically rejected, with the judges noting that she can "significantly exaggerate what she otherwise believes to be true".

Mr Sharma was found by the tribunal to have subjected her to "unwanted sexual attention, which had the effect of creating an offensive environment for her" but it did not establish that he had assaulted her.

Reflecting on events, she said she is constantly afraid and has even tried to damage her own hand because, she alleges, it was held by Mr Sharma. "I hate this hand," she said. "So many times I hit my hand to that wall, and it's not broken. They crushed my spirit by doing this. I don't trust anybody… only my family understand that I am broken inside."

One of the most poignant moments in court concerned a notebook she had kept in Punjabi, in which she had written "poetic" passages, often addressed to her mother. In one, she described how after an unnamed man "held my breast tightly", she felt "hatred of her body" and fantasised about cutting off her hand and breasts.

In another passage, she said he had made her breasts "filthy by touching them with dirty hands". The passage named Mr Sharma but was not explicit that he was the man in question.

She never intended the diary to be made public. In fact, she failed to disclose its existence to the tribunal until proceedings were under way, prompting a last-minute scramble for a translation.

But whilst the whole episode has made things difficult for her, both professionally and financially, she was determined to seek justice. She wanted to provide a deterrent to other powerful men who believe they can turn a blind eye to harassment, she said, and ensure that immigrant communities in Britain are no longer excluded from the #MeToo movement.

"There are a lot of people who are suffering more than me," she said. "My three years will have [been] wasted [in the court], but many girls will be safe. People will think not twice, not thrice. They will think many times that there was a girl who got justice."

CLARIFICATION: A translator who was approved by all parties in the proceedings produced a translation of a telephone conversation in Punjabi between Lord Ranger and Ms A in which Lord Ranger is translated as calling her a 'scumbag'. Lord Ranger denies this and said he told her she was an 'insolent girl'.