THE former legal head of a Merseyside council is to sue her old employers for alleged sexual discrimination.

Caroline Elwood is taking Sefton council to an employment tribunal next week.

Ms Elwood, who took early retirement from her £90,000-a-year post with an enhanced £250,000 pension contributions, will claim she was also entitled to a five-figure redundancy pay-off because of restructuring.

The solicitor - now temporary legal head at Cheshire East council - believes she was denied compensation for the loss of her office after being told she was unable to take voluntary redundancy.

She will allege six senior male colleagues received "better treatment".

Town hall sources today accused the Birkdale mum of "greed at the expense of the taxpayer". One councillor said he was confident Sefton would be vindicated in court.

Ms Elwood was Sefton’s legal director and monitoring officer for 10 years - up to March 2010.

Her case against the council revolves around a restructure of senior management in 2009 aimed at reducing the number of high-earning officers.