Five firefighters have been sacked after allegedly "bullying and harassing" a female colleague, including sharing a photo of a pig in a thong.
West Midlands Fire Service's Matthew Wagstaff, Karl Donnelly, Carl Hill, Steven Hunter and Nigel Hobby are accused of sending cruel messages over WhatsApp about the complainant.
All five are challenging their dismissals at a tribunal, claiming they were "targeted" by the fire service.
The hearing was told the woman - identified as person E, had raised a grievance and shared the contents of the group, reports BirminghamLive.
A senior officer described her as "broken" after interviewing her as part of the investigation.
She has since been off sick and suffering from PTSD.
The tribunal was also told the woman has had suicidal thoughts and is undergoing cognitive behavioural therapy.
The female firefighter was also questioned over her own "inappropriate" messages in the group but said she felt she had no choice "otherwise she wouldn't fit in".
The five accused say WMFS has shown "bias" and is "targeting" them, with Mr Hobby also accusing his former employer of age discrimination.
The firefighters say they have been targeted after raising concerns about the "adequacy" an eight-week training programme earlier this year.
Station Commander Steven Lees, Group Commander Matt Young and Commander Mark Hudson have denied having any prior knowledge of such concerns being raised.
Mr Hobby and another of the firefighters have accused Mr Hudson of being "aggressive" in his interview.
He said he was "perhaps assertive and reacting to the environment that we were both in, that we were all in".
Mr Hudson also said: "In Mr Hobby's view, he was frustrated and I explained my role was to complete the investigation.
"The environment was charged emotionally. I would not say I was aggressive.
"I felt that, out of all of the interviews, Mr Hobby wasn't as open to respond as the others, not as easy to communicate with."
Ahead of the interviews a "large amount of time" was taken to "dissect" and understand the contents of the WhatsApp group, with around 2,000 messages exchanged.
The primary focus of the investigation was the "bullying and harassment" towards person E, Mr Hudson agreed.
Andrew Watson, representing the five claimants, said they took "particular issue" that the service had consulted an expert in diversity, equity and inclusion over some of the messages but were not told before seeing the findings published in a report.
Mr Donnelly, the court heard, was "very upset to read some of the connotations" attached to the posts by the expert.
The expert's remarks were later removed from the report, the tribunal heard, after Mark Hamilton, a lead in the investigation, agreed "it should come out".
Mr Hudson accepted "we could have done it a different way by asking him [the expert] before interviewing the claimants".
During interviews, the claimants were shown "each of their posts, messages, videos or photographs".
Mr Hudson said they were asked the "same four questions", including why they were posted and whether they thought they were consistent with the values of the service.
The investigations team categorised each post, for example "sexual slurs, homophobia", he told the tribunal.
Mr Watson, cross-examining Mr Hudson, said person E "put in various inappropriate things herself".
Touching on an interview transcript, Mr Watson said: "She said: 'I felt I needed to do that otherwise I wouldn't fit in'.
"Instead of going through the posts, you then say: 'Is your answer going to be the same for each of them?' Essentially this was where it was left.
"Why did you take this very different approach with her?"
Mr Hudson said he "felt like I was talking to a broken person who had to describe talking about explicit parts of her body".
He went on: "She was extremely upset throughout the whole interview. With the raw emotion, I didn't feel the need to prolong that given the state she was presenting."
He accepted the claimants "were remorseful and embarrassed" during their interviews.
Mr Hudson was also accused of sharing his "opinion".
During the probe, he said: "The investigation team were amazed and appalled at the inappropriate content in the WhatsApp group." He accepted the comments, later removed from the report, "shouldn't have found their way in".
Mr Watson then questioned: "If you go back there was a photograph posted in relation to person E, a pig wearing a thong and a comment relating to that." In the messages, a picture of a fox was also posted, with reference to "Mr Hunter looking like a fox", the hearing was told.
Mr Hudson then said "it's a bit more pleasant than a pig though" - a comment he himself told the tribunal "should not have been made". He denied the accusation of bias and denied making an "attempt to defend" person E.
The proceedings continue.
