Websters reveal life under scrutiny

The couple at the centre of a legal battle to keep their newborn son after their other children were taken for adoption have lifted the lid on life under the constant scrutiny at an assessment centre.

Nicky and Mark Webster fled to Ireland in May for Brandon's birth because they feared he would be forcibly adopted - agreeing finally to return to Britain to attempt to clear their names of abuse allegations and fight through the courts to keep their baby.

As the EDP reported on Saturday, a High Court judge has allowed the couple to take baby Brandon back home to Cromer.

But at the same hearing, the judge also allowed publication of the evidence of abuse Norfolk County Council says was suffered by their three other children, known only as child, A, B and C, before they were taken for adoption.

Yesterday in an interview with a national newspaper, the Websters - who deny the abuse allegations - told how during their four-and-a-half months at an assessment centre they were watched by officials 24 hours a day and even had to ask permission to change baby Brandon's nappy.

Mrs Webster told the Mail on Sunday: “The sound system “roams” the units in seven second sweeps. If there is a baby crying or a bang or a shout it will zoom in on it and stay at the source of the noise.

“When you arrive you're given rules-there are no microwaves, no child is to be left unattended at all or with anyone else and visits have to be between one and four in the afternoon on weekends only.”

Mr Webster said: “For me it wasn't so bad, after the first three children were born I went back to work within a couple of weeks so I wasn't there to bathe them or change their nappies.

“I'd never bathed a baby, so I learned a lot and bonded with Brandon massively as a result. But it was difficult for Nicky. She'd done this for three children. She knew what she was doing and she was being tested on it all.”

The couple who could only leave the centre with Brandon for four unsupervised hours a day, if they notified a member of staff, were only supposed to be staying at the centre for 12 weeks.

But just before the departure date they were informed an extension was needed, meaning Mr Webster had to go back to work because he had already used up his unpaid leave.

He said: “I had had this bond with Brandon and I was there all the time-and then I had to leave him and Nicky. She was at the centre alone and I was back home.

“It affected my relationship with Brandon and that was very hard, very painful. I just tried to make the most of the time we had together.”

The Websters return home to Cromer today but will still be under close supervision until June when a new judge at a final court hearing will determine the family's fate.

According to the Norfolk County Council papers published after Friday's High Court hearing, child B had suffered six fractures-including a rib fracture caused by “forceful squeezing” and other fractures caused by “forceful twisting”, while child A had suffered “clinical and emotional harm.”

As a result the council felt the three children were at “risk of significant harm” and took them for adoption.

But the couple have claimed that the fractures were a result of brittle bone disease, which runs in the mother's family.