A teenager with severe autism was 'trapped' in a padded room by carers.

A mother who took her local authority to court after her severely autistic son was locked in a padded room several times a day says the ‘remarkable’ progress he has made since winning the case 9 months ago has vindicated their battle for justice.

Her son can only be named as Boy C but the organisations that failed him have been named as Wigan Council and the charity Scope. His family have been speaking to ITV Granada's reporter Clare Fallon.

For hours on end Boy C was stuck in a padded room, he wasn't locked in instead, staff clung to the door handle outside to stop him getting out. He repeatedly head butted the wall and tried to claw his way out. After four years of complaints from his family the case went to the High Court. A judge ruled that what went on was illegal, depriving the teenager of his liberty. Wigan council was the local authority which sent Boy C to Beech Tree School in Bamber Bridge and it was the charity Scope who were running it.

Now, C’s mother says the progress he has made since the ruling last March has vindicated the family’s battle. She said the situation for C whilst at Beech Tree School was harrowing and his plight had fallen on deaf ears until the intervention of the Court adding that his presentation speaks volumes. C now enjoys regular walks in the countryside and is using transport to go swimming; both his attention span and vocabulary have dramatically increased, but perhaps most tellingly of all C has started to laugh again.