Strasbourg - Four British children won substantial damages on Thursday after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the British authorities had not protected them from maltreatment by their mother. The four, now aged 19, 17, 15, and 13 were awarded a total of more than £300,000.
The court heard that the family was first reported to social services because of concerns about the children. They were then monitored for more than four years, during which time they were reported as stealing food from school wastebins with two of them said to have had bruises on their faces.
They were finally taken into emergency foster care in 1992 on the demands of the mother who said if they were not removed she would batter them. The judges were told the consultant psychologist who examined the children said it was "the worst case of neglect and emotional abuse she had seen".