Stressed trader 'checked into Priory'

A SENIOR equities trader is suing Germany's Commerzbank after claiming her stressful job made her dangerously ill. Helen McNallen, 35, says she regularly worked at least 12 hours a day after joining Commerzbank in 1998.

She says she told the bank she was stressed and overworked, but claims bosses ignored her illness, put her under undue working pressure, and then sacked her in January 2000.

Commerzbank later reinstated her, but the stress made her illness worse, she claims. She has not worked since.

McNallen, who is suing the bank for at least £250,000 in damages and loss of earnings, was originally sacked after leaving early on a day that Commerzbank lost money on the Italian stock market.

She says that depression and occasional psychotic illnesses forced her to spend periods in psychiatric clinics including London's Priory, which has a reputation for treating celebrities and their addictions.

Commerzbank declined to comment on the case.