A JURY took five minutes yesterday to clear a bus driver of causing the death of one of her schoolboy passengers.

Deborah White broke down in tears as the not guilty verdict was announced at the end of an often distressing five-day trial at Teesside Crown Court.

Mrs White, 41, of Hollinside Road, Billingham, denied causing the death of 12-year-old Jamie Wells, of Linthorpe, by dangerous driving in Burlam Road, Middlesbrough.

The prosecution had said that by failing to ensure that the bus doors were closed on her Number 24 service bus, Mrs White had driven dangerously and caused Jamie's death.

The court heard how on March 8, last year, the Stagecoach bus company had detailed Mrs White to work a bus route dreaded by drivers because of the bad behaviour of schoolchildren passengers.

Mrs White told the court how she had stopped in the Acklam area, where more than 30 youngsters came on board her bus.

Witnesses told the hearing how the unruly children took over the bus, how they spat, shouted, smoked and threw coins at each other.

Judge Tony Briggs heard how several had packed on to the platform beside the door and repeatedly refused to follow Mrs White's request to move back into the bus.

As their behaviour deteriorated, some of the children began to turn emergency handles, setting off an alarm on the upper deck and forcing the main doors to open.

There was, the jury heard, no means of overriding the door's opening from the driver's cab of the 20-year-old Leyland Titan bus.

At one stage, one of the young passengers threw a can of pop at Mrs White, who described the journey as one of the worst she had encountered. She said it was a nightmare which had left her "head in bits".

In the chaos of the afternoon run, she decided the safest course was to drive as slowly as possible to a stop in Middlesbrough's Burlam Road, where most of the children got off.

During the minutes of mayhem, a schoolgirl witness told how Jamie had been prevented by bullies from getting off at his stop.

He had eventually managed to get to the door but, as he stepped off the moving vehicle, he fell under the wheel and was run over.

He died two hours later in the operating theatre of Middlesbrough General Hospital.

After they returned the verdict, Judge Briggs told the jury: "This was a highly unusual and no doubt distressing case."

He also granted Mrs White's costs.