THE jury was being sent out today in the trial of a former North Yorkshire children's home warden accused of cruelty.

, 54, of Wrawby, near Scunthorpe, has denied three allegations of cruelty and one serious sexual offence at St Camillus Roman Catholic Community Home School, near Tadcaster, as well as 12 charges of cruelty, four serious sexual offences and one indecent assault at another children's home outside North Yorkshire.

During the trial, at Grimsby Crown Court, Littlewood was accused of punching boys in the stomach at St Camillus and of sexually abusing a boy in a laundry cupboard.

Updated: 11:30 Tuesday, April 30, 2002