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Claimant: the Rt Rev Crispian Hollis.

A COMPLEX legal battle which caused the closure of a Hampshire nursery and playgroup has come to a head.

St Benedict's Pre-School and Nursery in Penton Mewsey shut suddenly two years ago after the Roman Catholic diocese of Ports-mouth took action over the sale of school buildings.

After a three-week hearing, closing arguments were completed at the High Court on Friday.

The disputed deal took place in 2003 after the nursery - run by the two remaining nuns of the Benedictine order, Sister Maura and her superior Sister Scholastica - fell into financial chaos in the 1990s.

London businessman Doug Rolfe, the ex-husband of trustee Vivien Rolfe, bought the school buildings in 2003 and leased them back to the nursery for 21 years.

During the hearing, Ed Morgan, counsel for the claimants - The Bishop of Portsmouth, The Right Reverend Crispian Hollis, and the two nuns - alleged that Mr and Mrs Rolfe forced the deal with the aim of eventually selling the buildings at a vast profit.

According to Mr Morgan, Mr and Mrs Rolfe pressured Sister Scholastica into the sale and misled her about subsequent business decisions, and were in breach of trust. It was also questioned whether Sister Scholastica had the authority to make the sale.

Mr Rolfe's counsel, Mark Warwick, said his client simply wanted to keep the school running and only acted after taking months of advice to check the transaction was financially and legally sound.

He also said that Sister Scholastica - who had stepped down from running the school but was still living in one of the buildings - lamented' her decision and wrote letters to several people complaining that she felt threatened by Mr Rolfe.

William Henderson, a charity law expert representing the Attorney General, said a major question that needed to be answered was whether Mr and Mrs Rolfe had acted unconscionably' in completing the deal.

The complicated web of rules, transactions and constitutions between the Benedictine Order and the school as well as Roman Catholic regulations and UK charity law became the defining factor of the case.

However the future of the nursery and the buildings - which are now empty and in a dilapidated state - may still be unclear, even after a verdict is delivered.

Judge Mr Justice Evans-Lomb reserved judgement until a later date, yet to be confirmed.

7:57am Friday 16th May 2008

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