A JUDGEMENT is expected next week in a marathon libel trial brought by two nursery workers acquitted of child abuse charges.

Christopher Lillie, 37, and Dawn Reed, 31, are suing Newcastle City Council and four members of a review team which claimed in a report that they had physically and emotionally abused children in their care.

Four years before the report was published, the pair were acquitted of indecently assaulting children at the Shieldfield Nursery, in Newcastle, where they worked.

In July 1994, Mr Lillie and Ms Reed appeared at Newcastle Crown Court pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of indecently assaulting six boys and girls from the nursery in the early 1990s. Mr Lillie was also charged with raping one girl.

Angry mothers stormed the dock and shouted abuse at Mr Justice Holland after the case collapsed when he refused to allow a video interview with the oldest girl to be allowed in evidence.

In November 1998, Richard Barker, Judith Jones, Jacqui Saradjian and Roy Wardell, the authors of the Abuse in the Early Years report, accused the pair of being members of a paedophile ring

They claimed they used their positions to groom young children for rape and abuse by themselves and other members of the ring.

Mr Lillie and Ms Reed, who have protested their innocence, told the High Court hearing their lives had been ruined by the report.

The council and review team have defended the action, claiming the publication was covered by qualified privilege.

The workers were suing the publishers of the Newcastle Chronicle newspaper, but settled the libel action out of court.

The libel trial began on January 14 and ran for 73 days, generating more than 10,000 pages of transcript.

Mr Justice Eady, who heard the case without a jury, is expected to return a verdict on Tuesday.