Coventry City Council ordered to pay £100,000 in care case

A judge has ordered Coventry City Council to pay £100,000 costs towards parents' court costs after it tried to put three of their children into care.

In June 2008, the local authority sought to remove the children over allegations that the parents ‘fabricated or induced illness’.

Judge Clifford Bellamy ruled the council's attempt to prove a case against the couple had "fallen below accepted standards".

Coventry City Council later withdrew the applications and said it regretted its mistakes, and it would not be challenging the order to pay towards the family’s legal costs.

The judgement was made in February, but the judge has just allowed the council to be named after an application was made by the BBC.