INTERVIEW-Taylor's S.Leone verdict by year's end-prosecutor

* Case began in 2007, has been delayed

* Defense cutting back on witness list, prosecutor says

By Patrick Worsnip

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 8 (Reuters) - A verdict in the long war crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor is not now expected until the end of this year, although the defense is cutting back on witnesses, a prosecutor said on Monday.

Taylor, 62, denies all 11 charges of instigating murder, rape, mutilation, sexual slavery and conscription of child soldiers during intertwined wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone in which more than 250,000 people were killed.

His trial by the U.N.-backed court for Sierra Leone in The Hague officially opened in June 2007, but was almost immediately adjourned after Taylor boycotted proceedings and fired his legal team. It began in earnest in January 2008.

Acting prosecutor Joseph Kamara of Sierra Leone told Reuters in an interview he was "optimistic that by the end of this year we should see a closure to this case." Any appeal could take three to four more months, he added.

The original prosecutor, American Stephen Rapp, said a year ago he expected a verdict early this year, a target that was later put back until mid-2010.

But Taylor's own evidence has dragged on. He took the witness stand in his own defense last July, and prosecutors only completed their cross-examination last Friday. He is expected to face more questions from his own lawyers before other defense witnesses are called.