A SPECIAL needs teacher accused of physically and verbally abusing autistic children who were entrusted into his care has denied cruelty.

Malcolm Phillips, 51, is accused of mistreating six autistic youngsters at a residential school over a two-year period.

But he told Newcastle Crown Court yesterday: "I wanted the children to be independent, to make progress."

Mr Phillips was said to have "fed" some of the children chilli peppers during his alleged campaign of cruelty.

But he told the court how he had taken the chillies into school for his lunch and had offered them to the children as an example of how autistic children do not determine whether or not they like certain foods on taste alone.

He said: "One of the staff had been amazed that a boy had eaten half a box of soap powder.

"I was attempting to illustrate that with autistic children taste might not be the main factor, it could be texture, colour, smell or touch. I took the chilli and cut it into thin slices. I picked one up, ate it myself and offered the others and said 'Watch what will happen'.

"Most of them rejected it. It is difficult to give them strange foods. Some ate it, it did not affect them, and others took it out of their mouths, presumably because they did not like the texture."

Mr Phillips also denied being aggressive to one of the youngsters, who had an obsession with the showers at a swimming pool, and did not want to go in the water.

But Mr Phillips admitted the pressure of the job did make him have a short fuse with fellow staff due to their lack of training.

Mr Phillips, of Mowbray Close, Sunderland, denies 20 charges of child cruelty.

The case continues