A COUPLE have won their legal battle to adopt a smuggled Romanian baby given to them by convicted charity worker John Boast.

The husband and wife, who have been looking after the girl since she was handed to them at a Watford motorway service station in 1995, were today said to be "thrilled to bits".

The couple, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were granted their application to adopt the girl, now aged three, by the High Court. They also won the right to adopt another Romanian girl who is four-years-old.

The court extended an injunction forbidding identification of either child.

The Crown Prosecution Service decided in January 1996 not to prosecute the couple - who have recently moved away from North Yorkshire - because it was not in the public interest.

Mr Boast was given a 20-month suspended prison sentence by a Romanian court last year after he was convicted of smuggling the child out of the country.

He made an emotional return to East Lancashire in October, but has now returned to Romania to continue his aid work. He has said in the past that he only did what "any man with compassion" would have done by smuggling out the child.

The couple's solicitor, Amanda Page, said: "They are delighted their family is now complete. They are thrilled to bits.

"The general view is that they are excellent parents and that they are doing a superb job. Both the children are thriving."

The authorities only became aware of the baby when a North Yorkshire social worker visited the couple's home to discuss their well-advanced application to adopt the other, older Romanian child and discovered that the toddler was living with them.

In September 1995 a High Court judge granted an interim residence order allowing the smuggled child to remain with the couple until there had been a full assessment of the case.

North Yorkshire County Council said it had taken the matter to court so that the child's situation could be put on a proper legal footing.

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