A nursery owner with more than 40 years of experience has spoken of her relief after she was cleared of assaulting a toddler at the end of a 14-month ordeal.
Olive Rack, 56, was falsely accused by council officials of 'losing her temper' and dragging the two-year-old girl across the room after the child hit a 3-month-old baby on the head with a toy brick.
The nursery owner said she simply followed the example of television's Supernanny when she disciplined the toddler on a 'naughty chair'.
But despite the fact she was backed by the toddler's parents, and without a previous blemish to her record, Mrs Rack was charged with common assault.
She was finally cleared yesterday after magistrates heard the married mother-of-three used no physical force or violence.
Outside court, Mrs Rack, who has run her Tresco Day Nursery in Kettering, Northamptonshire, for 19 years, said she was 'pleased to finally be vindicated'.
Mrs Rack added: 'I'm obviously very, very pleased with the result. But now I just want to get back to my home - and back to my work.'
Mrs Rack was supported at court by the toddler's mother, who told the magistrates the incident had been 'blown out of all proportion' (
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