Baby faced dad

Couple wrongly accused of abuse told they still can't have kids back By Victoria Ward 12/02/2009

Adoption court snubs parents

A couple whose three children were put into care over dubious abuse claims were yesterday told they cannot have them back.

Mark and Nicky Webster have not seen the youngsters for four years since they were accused of harming one of them. They have now been adopted.

Despite fresh evidence showing the injuries were probably due to iron deficiency, the Court of Appeal yesterday refused the couple's plea to be reunited.

Judges said it was too late because the children - aged nine, seven and five - were now settled with new families.

Lord Justice Wall said: "The Websters believe they have suffered a miscarriage of justice.

They may be right.




"The court concluded that after three years it was too late to set the adoption orders aside, and that it would not be in the interests of the children to do so."

He added: "If there is a lesson to be learned from the case it is the need to obtain second opinions on injuries to children."

Mark, 35, and Nicky, 27, were told adoption orders were only revoked in "extremely limited" cases.

Lord Justice Wall said it was a "deeply regrettable experience for the local authority" and a "painful learning experience" for the medical profession.

After losing the children in 2005, the couple, of Cromer, Norfolk, fled to Ireland to avoid fourth child Brandon being taken from them at birth. They insisted: "We did no wrong." They later returned and the council dropped attempts to put the boy in care after seeing he was healthy.