Statement from Irwin Mitchell

Following today’s reports in relation to the case involving former Olympian Jess Varnish and former British Cycling technical director, Shane Sutton, Irwin Mitchell has released the following statement.

Simon Fenton, employment partner at Irwin Mitchell, who is representing Jess, said:

Expert Opinion

“I am instructed to appeal although we have not been given a right to appeal. Natural justice requires a right to appeal. What we do about it will depend on what it says in the report when we have it. I do not feel that British Cycling has covered itself in glory here.

“It seems extraordinary that it has taken them this long to release any findings and when they do, they appear to come to such conflicting conclusions. We do not know who corroborated which complaints or how they arrived at the decisions they did.

“Needless to say, Jess is very upset about this. I’m sure Shane Sutton is very upset about this, too. If the full reasoned decision backs up the summary they have given us - and it emerges that he effectively lost his job over the least of the complaints - then I can see why he would be.”

Simon Fenton - Partner