A one-time friend and colleague of a north prosecutor made the decision to sack her after she was convicted of a serious driving offence.
John Logue, director of the serious casework group at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal service (COPFS), joined the service as a trainee solicitor at the same time as Emma Knox in 1994.
They worked together on several occasions and Mrs Knox went onto become the Inverness procurator fiscal in 2009.
But she was dismissed after admitting she caused a head-on collision near her Kirkhill home on the A862 Inverness-Beauly road.
The mother-of-two suffered serious skull, neck and rib fractures, as well as brain and nerve damage.
She spent three days in a coma and months learning to walk again as part of her recovery.
Mrs Knox is claiming unfair dismissal and breach of contract for not being given a period of notice, as well as unpaid wages, after she was involved in the serious collision in December 2012.
She was dismissed from her £3,200 a month position with COPFS in October last year – just weeks after admitting driving dangerously and causing a head-on crash with a van which nearly killed her, and badly injured the van driver.
She was fined £500 and banned from driving for two years by Sheriff Principal Derek Pyle at Dingwall Sheriff Court.
Giving evidence before a three-strong employment tribunal panel chaired by Reg Christie, Mr Logue said that he waited until the conclusion of the court proceedings before sending a letter calling Mrs Knox to a disciplinary hearing.
He told the hearing that he had viewed the prosecutor’s notes from the case, as well as the police report, but insisted that he disregarded the latter.
His decision was made on the basis that “there would be serious reputational risk to the organisation” if Mrs Knox continued in her job.
Her counsel, Tom Pacey, asked if one moment of foolhardiness – she had overtaken a lorry – could damage the bond of trust between Mrs Knox and her employers.
Mr Christie, meanwhile, asked if her error of judgement could be construed as gross misconduct, to which Mr Logue replied: “The nature of work our organisation takes, and the impact on public perception as a whole, means that her dangerous overtaking did reach that threshold.”
Another former colleague of Mrs Knox, Andrew McIntyre, was called as first witness by the service – he was her line manager from July 2012 to October 2013, when she was sacked.
Mr McIntyre revealed that they had a good working relationship during that time and he had the task of telling Mrs Knox that she had been suspended in May 2013, and visited her home to do so.
The hearing continues today.