A NURSERY owner has been found not guilty of child neglect after leaving a toddler strapped inside her car for more than six hours.

Carol Cort, 67, was acquitted of the charge by a judge at Stroud Magistrates' Court following an application by her defence barrister Catherine Milsom.

At the half-way point in the trial Ms Milsom argued there was "no case to answer" because the prosecution had not proven "mens rea" - that Mrs Cort had acted with a "guilty mind".

Mrs Cort had accepted she had left the toddler strapped inside her car for six hours outside the nursery in Bourton-on-the-Water but denied the charge she faced.

The prosecution alleged Mrs Cort had been reckless in leaving the child in the locked car and therefore acted wilfully.

The defence had offered expert evidence from Dr Dilum Jayawickrama, a consultant forensic pathologist, who said at the time Mrs Cort was suffering from a "mild to moderate" depressive illness.

District Judge Joti Bopa Rai said the Crown had not challenged this testimony with its own expert and had not put sufficient evidence before the court to prove Mrs Cort acted "wilfully".

"I accept the submission of no case to answer and I find that the Crown has not been able to prove the mens rea," the judge said. "In those circumstances I find the defendant not guilty of the offence and dismiss the charge."

Upon hearing the judge's ruling, Mrs Cort hugged her daughter Alison, who had been sat next to her in the courtroom.

Earlier, the court had heard that Mrs Cort was giving the little girl a lift to the Barn Nursery School on the morning of February 19 last year.

When she arrived at the nursery at around 9am Mrs Cort locked the car and went to work leaving the toddler - who cannot be identified for legal reasons - strapped into her car seat.

No one at the nursery noticed the three-and-half-year-old was missing and it was not until after 3pm that Mrs Cort realised what she had done.

By that time the girl had been trapped in the car for around six hours without food, water or toilet facilities.

As Mrs Cort realised what had happened she rushed to the child's home and confessed to the girl's mother.

The mother told the court: "I just remember Mrs Cort saying she had done something really terrible and dreadful and had let all the children down.

"I think I was in shock - I don't think it registered. Mrs Cort said she had left her in the bus all day and that she had forgotten her."

Since the incident education watchdog Ofsted has closed down the nursery, which Mrs Cort ran with her husband Peter and daughter.

Mrs Cort, of Blacksmith Lane, Beckford, Tewkesbury, did not wish to comment as she left court with her husband and daughter.