LAWYERS acting for cleared Gwent headteacher Marjorie Evans, pictured, have launch-ed a compensation battle with her employers.

Barristers from her union, the National Union of Teachers, wrote to Monmouthshire county council's education authority last week alleging that they mishandled the affair of the 56-year-old principal.

Mrs Evans, of Usk, is also planning to sue the education committee for stress she suffered while she was suspended from returning to her school.

The headmistress returned to her desk at St Mary's Junior School in Caldicot in March after being suspended for 18 months.

She was originally suspended in September 1999 after it was alleged she slapped an unruly ten-year-old pupil. She has now been back at school for some six weeks.