A black teacher was driven to a nervous breakdown by children who branded her a "golliwog'' and "jungle bunny."

Pricilla Bennett, 40, claimed she suffered clinical depression due to repeated racial abuse by white children while she was acting head of modern languages at Fryerns School, Basildon - which has since closed.

She won her case of racial discrimination and is now hoping to win £30,000 compensation from Essex County Council.

Her solicitor, Sadiq Khan, told a Stratford industrial tribunal hearing "the case unfortunately underlines all the stereotypical images of Basildon being a racist area."

Mrs Bennett, the only black teacher out of 29 at the predominantly white school, taught French to 11 to 16-year-olds.

She said: "When the racist incidents began I felt completely vulnerable, naked and helpless. A gang of large 16-year-olds were, I felt, publicly insulting me. The whole class was watching. No one moved a muscle to help me.

"Although I immediately informed the year head, it took me two days to tell my husband. It felt as if I had been violated. I looked on the school and the county council to protect and defend me.

"But to my horror they did the opposite. They ignored the situation. It was shocking to me that such incidents could occur and that nothing would be done about it."

Mrs Bennett told how her ordeal drove her to a nervous breakdown and left her unable to work as a teacher. She also contemplated suicide.

She said: "I believe I was plunged into what I now know to be a clinical depression. At the time I thought I was going mad."

She claimed the school had failed to protect her from the abuse and despite her complaints about students' behaviour, no letters were ever sent to those concerned.

An original employment tribunal first rejected Mrs Bennett's claim of race discrimination between January 1995 and August 1996 because letters were sent out to pupil's parents when abuse reoccurred a year later.

But an appeals tribunal ruled she had not been adequately protected by the school and her regular formal complaints were not taken as seriously as they should have been.

She won her claim for race and sex discrimination against Essex County Council and a two-day hearing in Stratford, East London, will now decide the amount of compensation she should be awarded.

Mrs Bennett also told how headteacher Stuart Hayes advertised her post while she was off on maternity leave and she branded him "cold and hostile" for also forcing her to mark examination scripts and provide medical certificates for every day of absence while she was on maternity leave.

A spokesman for Essex County Council said: ''Although Fryerns School was closed by the county council after the allegations were made, this case provides a serious warning to all schools that they must do everything in their power to protect their staff from all forms of racial and sexual abuse.''

The hearing continues.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.