'Traumatic' inquiry defended

The council-commissioned report was issued in 1998

The leader of Newcastle City Council has defended his authority's actions in the wake of a libel victory by two former nursery nurses.

Tony Flynn was speaking after the nurses won a nine-year battle to clear their names over allegations, now known to be untrue, that they sexually abused children in their care.

Dawn Reed, 31, and Christopher Lillie, 37, were awarded £200,000 each at the High Court on Tuesday after "ruinous" allegations were made against them in a report commissioned by Newcastle City Council.

Speaking after the result, council leader Mr Flynn said: "For more than a decade the people of Newcastle have felt the distress of those close to these events.

Claim rejected

"In our desire to address the parents' concerns and to show our commitment to protecting and supporting all children in our care, the council, acting in unity, did what we genuinely believed to be best at that time.

"This has been a particularly traumatic time for those closest to this issue."

Ms Reed and Mr Lillie were in court to hear the announcement by Mr Justice Eady in London that he had found the allegations against them "untrue".

The judge rejected their claim for libel against Newcastle City Council but upheld it against the four authors of the independent report called Abuse in Early Years.

All defendants had contested the action

In a statement Newcastle City Council said it was pleased Mr Justice Eady upheld its defence.

It read: "The council is pleased that Mr Justice Eady has upheld the council's defence of qualified privilege, which means he has confirmed that the council acted properly in publishing the independent review team's report."

However, as the judge delivered his findings, he emphasised that he thought the inquiry had been a "shambles".

'Public duty'

The four members of the review teams said they were "shocked" by the ruling and were hoping to find out whether they had grounds to appeal.

The review team was led by Dr Richard Barker, a social worker in an academic post at the University of Northumbria; Roy Wardell, a former director of social services for Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council; Jacqui Saradjian, a clinical psychologist and Judith Jones, a senior social worker.

A statement from the review team said: "We undertook the inquiry in the spirit of public duty. We worked long and hard in difficult circumstances, as the judge has recognised."

The statement continued: "We have been advised that we have good grounds to appeal this judgement and are considering appealing."

The team said it may make a further comment in a few days.