A FIVE-year-old boy stricken by a mysterious inability to speak has failed in a legal bid to force Bury Council to meet the full cost of a sign language tutor despite winning a High Court judge's sympathy.

Connor Freeman, of George Road, Ramsbottom, has not been to school for a year due to the lack of a signing assistant able to support him throughout the school day.

The case was brought to court on his behalf by his parents, Anne and Tony Freeman.

But Mr Justice Collins dismissed the judicial review challenge to Bury Council's refusal to pay a £20,000 assistant's salary, although expressing criticism of the council's stance.

The judge said Connor's parents did not have an "arguable" case that the council had erred in law in reaching its decision. But he added: "I do recognise the difficulties that there are and I do take the view that the council's past activities have not been as satisfactory as they might have been". He said he hoped the council would "reconsider the situation very carefully indeed" and think about advertising for an assistant at a £20,000 salary, if advertisements for one at a lower salary of £14,690 do not bear fruit.

Connor is of normal intelligence and ability but is unable to speak for reasons which doctors cannot fathom.

He has been taught British Sign Language and will be able to attend a standard mainstream school, providing he has the help of a signing assistant to "interpret" for him.

The council has advertised this post on several occasions, initially offering a salary of £9,500, later raising its offer to £10,000.

More recently, it has indicated that it will advertise the post at a rate of £14,690 per annum, but the family's lawyers argued that was still not high enough to attract a suitable candidate.

Specialist signer, Kathryn Kirkman, who knows Connor's family, was initially prepared to take the post at £12,500-a-year rather than the £10,500 then on offer from the council. But her application was rejected by the council, and by the time it raised its salary offer, she had taken an alternative post at £20,000-a-year, the court heard.

Justice Collins said that, although he had not heard full evidence in the case, "it seems that on any view the council has in the past been entirely inflexible and has not been prepared to offer the rates which were appropriate for the job".

A Bury Council spokesman said after Wednesday's (July 4) hearing: "We will obviously be studying the remarks made the judge. But it is too early for us to comment at this stage."