A Burnham-On-Sea mother who believes her daughter was born disabled after she was exposed to industrial toxins during pregnancy has won a landmark High Court battle.
Barbara Mallin, from Highbridge Road, blames her 22-year-old daughter Dawn’s birth defects on a large industrial clean-up at a former British Steel works in Corby between 1984 and 1999.
Dawn has two stunted fingers on her left hand and limited function in her left arm.
The hearing in London was against Corby Borough Council which at the time sought to transform the Northamptonshire town.
Mrs Mallin never lived in Corby, but claimed she ingested toxic particles during sporadic visits there during the crucial first stages of her pregnancy in late 1986.
She stayed with relatives for weekends or four-day stints while her electrician husband Anthony was working in the area.
Lawyers for the Mallin family and 17 others sued for compensation amid claims the birth defects were caused by air contaminated with dangerous pollutants.
It was ruled 16 of the 18 children, aged 9 to 22, were found to have suffered deformities due to toxic dust as the council failed to take basic steps.
Judge Mr Justice Akenhead said the council had “bitten off more than it could chew”.
This is the first time a court has ruled that toxic material can be ingested by pregnant women and harm unborn children.
In court, Mrs Mallin said there was dust hanging around the town’s market, which was also covered with small mounds of orange-brown earth. It was squidgy underfoot because of the red mud, she told the court, and her husband would curse after they visited the market because his car would emerge spattered with red dust.
One pollution expert said contaminants had gathered in the air like an “atmospheric soup of toxic materials”. Other witnesses described roads clogged with red mud and lorries covered in slush.
Stephen Grime, for the council, suggested Mrs Mallin may have been mistaken about the precise location of the market “or even if you visited it that year”, but she stood by her account.
The council insisted its clean-up was appropriately handled and denied any link between toxic exposure and the children’s birth defects.
The High Court judgement does not automatically entitle the families to compensation and Corby Borough Council says it is will review Mr Justice Akenhead’s 288-page document before taking its next step.
