A SCHOOL pupil described to a court how his friend collapsed to the floor after being grabbed by the neck by teacher Garth Sutcliffe.

The boy then went on to say Sutcliffe had prodded his classmate with his foot as he lay on the floor and told him to get up and get on with his work.

The alleged assault on the 14-year-old happened at Clitheroe Royal Grammar School after Sutcliffe told the boy to stop misbehaving.

A jury at Preston Crown Court was told the boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, collapsed and hit his head on a chair. He was off school for two days with a headache.

The boy's classmate, whose identity is also protected, told the jury Sutcliffe had taken hold of his friend by the shirt collar.

He added: "I could see the collar was quite tight. Mr Sutcliffe asked him why he hadn't been working and then his knees gave way and his body followed that. He fell sideways and hit his head on the back of the chair.

"He went very pale and his eyed were upwards and he started shaking. Mr Sutcliffe was stood over him. He prodded him with his foot and told him to get up." Sutcliffe, 56, of James Street, Clitheroe, denies one charge of assault causing actual bodily harm. He has been a teacher at the school for more than 30 years.

Peter Turner, defending, told the jury the boy had been sitting down when he was reprimanded by Sutcliffe. He said that after the boy collapsed Sutcliffe had helped him back into his chair.

In a transcript of his police interview read to the jury Sutcliffe said: "I went up to the boy and took hold of the back of his shirt below the actual collar and helped him stand up. As I released the shirt and moved away I had a sense he had disappeared.

"I turned back and he had fallen on the floor. In more than 30 years of teaching I have never seen a child faint or go down like that.

"I have no real sense of what had happened but presumably he banged his head on the back of one of the chairs.

"I knelt down, asked if he was OK and helped him to sit up. He sat back in his chair and I told him to get on with his work."

He denied prodding the boy with his foot during the incident, which is said to have taken place in September 1999.

Proceeding