AN EAST Lancashire hypnotist's act was "highly likely" to have caused a mother-of-seven to relive the suppressed trauma of childhood sexual abuse, an expert told the High Court in London yesterday.

On the third day of the trial, in which Mrs Lynn Howarth is suing Phil Green -- known on stage as Phil Damon -- for negligence, Mr Justice Leveson heard that "age regression", allegedly used as part of Mr Green's act, could easily have triggered the memories which sent Mrs Howarth spiralling into depression so severe she twice attempted suicide.

The 40-year-old claims she suffered "18 months of sheer hell" after she was taken back to the age of eight by Mr Green, a period when she was molested by her great uncle Billy.

Lawyers for Mrs Howarth claim that Mr Green, of St Hubert's Road, Great Harwood, was negligent on the night of February 26 1994, at the Wyresdale Amateur Football and Social Club, which led to the the depression.

Hypnotism expert Graham Jamieson told the court that the stage hypnosis act was "an accident waiting to happen."

Mr Jamieson, a research psychologist in the Cognitive Neuroscience Department at the Imperial College School of Medicine, said: "It is highly likely for a person who has been subject to child sex abuse and is highly susceptible, that they will interpret and respond to those words in that way by reliving that experience because that experience is personally moving and meaningful to them."

Earlier in the case the court heard that Mrs Howarth, of Bolton, was among the top five per cent most susceptible people to hypnotism in the country.

Mr Jamieson went on to say that the effects of being hypnotised can continue long after the subject has been brought out of the trance.

Another expert witness, Dr John Gruzerier, a professor of psychology at the Imperial College School of Medicine, agreed that the episode, in which Mrs Howarth and another volunteer allegedly told to imagine they were eight-year-old girls creeping downstairs to watch a scary movie, could have induced age regression.

Psychiatrist Dr Alison Kelly had earlier told the court that the age regression during the stage hypnotism act could have "opened the door" to Mrs Howarth's buried memories of childhood sex abuse.

The hearing continues today.