Review team backs down in libel case
Posted: 26 September 2002 | Subscribe Online
An independent review team ordered to pay libel damages to two
nursery workers it accused of sexual abuse will not appeal against
the ruling.
The four-member team said it had made the decision after Newcastle
Council, which had commissioned the review into allegations of
abuse, decided it could not justify committing public money to the
cost of an appeal.
Christopher Lillie and Dawn Reed were awarded damages of
£200,000 each after a High Court judge found they were
innocent.
The council spent £1.97m on funding half the costs of the
original review and the defence of the libel action (news, page 6,
1 August).
