A teenager who is sueing her former school after years of bullying was left suffering anxiety and depression following her ordeal, a court heard today.

Dr Peter Taylor said Caroline Newby underwent therapy as an adolescent psychiatric unit after her problems at Shotton Hall Comprehensive School in Peterlee, Co Durham.

Teesside County Court heard how caroline had been left anxious after verbal bullying for a gang of girls at the school.

Caroline and another pupil Jamie Bright, both 20, are now sueing their school claiming they did not do enough to stop the bullying.

Caroline, who has an IQ of just 80, underwent psychiatric treatment after becoming too upset to return to school.

Dr Taylor told the court: "We have heard that the school made efforts to find her a safe place, she was actually offered help from the local adolescent psychiatric unit to overcome the anxiety.

"What hasn't been clear is what attempts the school has made to actually stop the bullying.

"If you don't block the hole at the bottom of the bucket you don't get anywhere."

And Dr Taylor said that therapy would be "wasted" if the bullying did not stop and he added Caroline's condition had been "substantially contributed to or caused by bullying."

Caroline claimed to have been ignored and ostracised by her classmates as well as being verbally abused by other pupils.

Dr Taylor added: "The female type of bullying, which is verbal, can be just as damaging as straight forward physical violence."

The two former pupils, who claim their lives were made a living hell by bullies are each suing their former school and its governors, for £50,000.

Caroline and Jamie say they both needed hospital treatment following assaults but that staff turned a blind eye.

They both detailed the ordeal they suffered at the hands of fellow pupils in the early 1990s.

Their barrister Philip Cramer told the court that although the school did have processes in place to deal with bullying, it was the claimants' cases that they were not followed - despite both pupils making complaints to staff.

Miss Newby told the court that for two years she was tormented by a group of eight girls starting in 1994 when she was 12.

The gang made her life a misery by shouting and swearing at her, repeatedly tripping her up and spitting at her.

At first, she said, she told her set tutor who said he would deal with the situation.

But she told the court that despite her complaint the bullying continued almost every day.

Eventually she told her head of year but nothing was done. She told the court: "He told me to go and sit back down, I was just being silly. He kept telling me it was all in my mind."

The bullying, she said, left her "anxious and scared", and reached its worst in May 1995 when she was admitted to hospital for four days suffering stress-related abdominal pains and stomach problems.

Mr Cramer said it was Caroline's case the school did not act quickly enough despite her parents and her GP informing the school she was being bullied.

She was eventually moved from the school in 1996.

Mr Cramer said that Jamie Bright was subjected to physical violence at the hands of boys at the school from the age of 12.

It began with an attack by two boys which left him with bruising, but a teacher claimed that Jamie had provoked the attack.

Mr Cramer said after a second assault, teachers suggested he shake hands and make up with the bullies.

In the most serious incident Jamie was attacked and kicked unconscious the court heard. After another attack he had to go to hospital, said Mr Cramer.

Medical evidence, said Mr Cramer, showed Mr Bright needed to take anti-depressants following the incidents.

Then in 1994, bullies tried to set fire to Jamie's coat in a science class and his books were stolen. His head of year assured his parents the boys would be spoken to but the bullying continued.

In 1996, Jamie was covered in ink and written on, and when he told his teacher, said Mr Cramer, she concluded he had been a "willing participant."

His bag was stolen and he was covered in chalk, said Mr Cramer. He was told to stay off school until it was sorted out, and on being told it had been, he returned only to be attacked the day after.

The claims are challenged by the governors of the school and Durham County Council and the case continues.