A COUNCILLOR has called for a more common sense approach from the police and prosecution service after a dinner lady was cleared of assaulting two pupils.

The 56-year-old woman, from Hartlepool, was found not guilty earlier this week of pulling an 11-year-old girl's hair and pushing an eight-year-old boy at a Teesside primary school last year.

During the court case, the police investigation was criticised for ignoring the accounts of three other dinner ladies, who said their colleague had only placed the boy against the wall and not pushed him, as he claimed.

Hartlepool Independent Councillor Stan Kaiser said the case should never have come to court.

Coun Kaiser said: "It does seem that this a case that would have been better handled by good management within the school, rather than a long, drawn out and expensive court case.

"Sometimes, common sense should be taken as the means by which we deal with these problems."

The woman was suspended from work and suffered ill-health brought on by stress, following the allegations.

Although the incidents were alleged to have taken place last May, a police file was not handed to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) until last November.

The CPS said yesterday they were not able to say how much the court case had cost taxpayers. A spokeswoman said: "The case met both the evidential and public interests tests. The fact there was an acquittal does not mean the CPS was wrong to take the case to court."

But Edwin Jeffries, secretary of the Hartlepool branch of Unison, said: "This woman has been subjected to ten months of stress and tribulation for no reason. These types of prosecution, which unfortunately we're seeing more of, do not help people feel comfortable in their working environment."