THE owner of two York nurseries plans to seek damages following a child welfare investigation which she says has “devastated” her business and forced her to make five staff redundant.

A police probe into Heworth House and Little Joe’s day nurseries, which began last August, ended with no charges being brought against six women who were arrested, with the exact nature of the allegations still unknown.

An inquiry by City of York Council, City of York Children’s Safeguarding Board and Ofsted is continuing.

But Lynn Dyrdal, 54, said she was struggling to keep the two nurseries open as only a handful of children were attending.

She said her reputation had been “absolutely ruined”, she had been the target of abusive allegations and “shame” had been brought on her business.

The mother-of-three – whose four York nurseries were issued with a welfare requirement notice, which has now been met, by Ofsted – maintained her staff were “110 per cent”

innocent.

She said: "The way this has been handled has had such a devastating effect on my business and I have had to make people redundant already.

“I have just lost such a tremendous amount of money. I have had to sell a property to keep my business afloat and repay deposits for future bookings.”

The council has stressed throughout the investigation that the allegations against the nurseries did not relate to sexual abuse.

But Mrs Dyrdal said some people had not accepted this and children’s work and photographs had been ripped off the nursery walls by angry parents.

Eoin Rush, the council’s assistant director of children’s services, said it would be “highly inappropriate” to comment on the case while the inquiry was continuing.

But he said: "The welfare of children is our absolute priority. “City of York Children’s Safeguarding Board and partner agencies have a duty to investigate where there is a concern that the needs of children within their area are not being met and there is a risk that the children may suffer harm as a result.”