Yorkshire reach out-of-court settlement with ex-medical chief Wayne Morton after firing him over sex scandal claims – with county’s compensation bill surpassing £2m for 16 unlawful staff sackings

Yorkshire have reached an out-of-court settlement with former medical chief Wayne Morton bringing an end to an extraordinary legal battle featuring now withdrawn allegations that he had sex with a prostitute in the dressing room. 

Mail Sport has learned that an agreement between Morton and the club has been reached following the intervention of new chairman Colin Graves in a deal that takes the club’s total compensation bill for the unlawful sacking of 16 members of staff beyond £2million.

Morton was suing Yorkshire for £569,000 in a claim for breach of contract that has been going on since December 2021, when he was one of 16 members of the club’s coaching and medical teams sacked via email by former chairman Lord Patel in a brutal purge of staff who had raised concerns about their handling of the Azeem Rafiq racism saga. 

The Morton claim had threatened to develop into an explosive court case as in their submissions to the High Court in Yorkshire made a series of extraordinary allegations against him, including that he ‘engaged in unprotected sexual activity and intercourse with a prostitute’ in the dressing room and had a ‘sexual relationship with a senior employee at the club.’ 

Morton had always denied these allegations.

Morton was suing the club for £569,000 after he was one of 16 individuals sacked for raising concerns about their handling of Azeem Rafiq’s (above) racism allegations in December 2021

At a pre-trial hearing last month Yorkshire are understood to have withdrawn those two allegations of sexual misconduct, as well as three other claims against Morton which the club were using to justify his dismissal. 

Morton was also accused of covering up an alleged incident of indecent exposure by Rafiq on a Yorkshire tour of South Africa in 2012, an accusation which both men have denied and was withdrawn by the club.

The allegations against Morton were first submitted to the High Court in 2022. Lord Patel, who was head of the club, stood down last March after a turbulent reign that cost the club millions in payouts in and saw it come close to the brink of administration.’

Yorkshire’s settlement with Morton will take the total cost of their handling of Rafiq’s allegations of suffering racist abuse at the club beyond £3.5m. 

In addition to eventually admitting that the 16 sackings were procedurally unfair Yorkshire have also spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on legal fees, as well as paying £200,000 to Rafiq in compensation.

Morton spent 38 years as a physio at Yorkshire having previously worked as part of England’s medical team, but was sacked out of the blue along with five of his colleagues at Pavilion Physiotherapy Clinic. 

The settlement agreed with Graves is due to be ratified at a Yorkshire Board meeting later this month.

Yorkshire declined to comment.