Colleague got fired and then emailed me my complaint to management about him

Hi all, Throwaway for obvious reasons.

I’ve been working in England at a large international company for almost 20 years. Two years ago a new colleague joined and immediately started playing office politics in a very aggressive way. He tried to undermine several managers (me included) in an obvious attempt to gain influence.

A couple months ago, he actually invited my manager and me to a meeting where he basically argued that he should have my job (or at least be considered equivalent), claiming his responsibilities were similar. They weren’t, but he was convinced they were. My manager shut it down and told him to focus on his own small project.

After that, he started trying to poison my team against me, suggesting they were somehow “at risk” by working with me (completely false). It created real anxiety in the team. At that point I formally escalated the situation via a detailed email to my manager. She acknowledged it and escalated it to his the problematic employee manager.

Something must have happened after that, because he was eventually put on garden leave and then made redundant. He sent a bitter email when he left, and today (his final day) he sent another one.

He also forwarded me the full content of the confidential escalation email I originally sent to my manager, presumably obtained through a Subject Access Request. My name was removed, but the context makes it very obvious I wrote it. The email he sent me had no message, nothing, just the content, which makes it feel like a deliberate intimidation tactic.

I feel terrible about this. I don’t know what kind of person I’m dealing with. I’m also concerned that the company provided him with a copy of my complaint, and I’m feeling uneasy about my and my family’s safety (and my job).

• Is this normal/expected in a SAR? • Should I raise this with HR? • Is this something I should report to the police? • Do I need legal advice? • Has anyone experienced something like this?

I genuinely don’t feel comfortable, and I’m not sure what the right next step is.