CEREBRAL palsy sufferer Stephen Burton, who defied all odds to qualify as a lawyer, has lost his seven-year battle for housing benefit in a landmark test case.

Mr Burton is paralysed in all four limbs and needs round-the-clock care, but despite his debilitating condition he worked on corporate giant ICI's legal team for nine years before setting up his own law firm.

In 1997 his business folded and in desperation Mr Burton, of Carvers Lane, in Ringwood, was forced to appeal to New Forest District Council for housing benefit.

But the father-of-two's plea for help fell on deaf ears and his case was finally quashed at the court of appeal in London on Friday November 12.

Mr Burton and his mother Beryl Nay bought the house where he now lives in Carvers Lane in 1997 and held it as trustees for the Nay Housing Care Trust. It was tenanted until the breakdown of his relationship with his partner when Mr Burton and his carers moved in.

In October 2003 Social Security Commissioner Christine Fellner ruled that Mr Burton, who set up the pioneering charity Support and Housing for Disabled People (SHAD) in 1978, which offers help to severely disabled people, was not entitled to the cash.

Lord Justice Wall backed her decision on Friday and explained that despite the existence of Nay Housing Care Trust Mr Burton was the owner of the property in 2001 and was therefore disqualified from any benefit.

Although Mr Burton retired as trustee in October 2001 the judge said it was not until April the next year that legal title to the property was handed to the trustees.

But he dismissed any suggestion that the trust arrangements were in any way a smokescreen to enable Mr Burton to claim housing benefit.

First published: November 16