A YORK lawyer was today celebrating a victory in a six-year battle for his clients to win a landmark case on human rights and invasion of privacy.

David Reston, whose practice is in Walmgate, found himself tens of thousands of pounds out of pocket as he battled to seek justice for a woman and her son, who has cerebral palsy.

Mary and Alan Wainwright were separately strip-searched in Armley Prison, Leeds, in December, 1997, while visiting her other son, Paddy, who was being held there on remand for murder.

The couple, for whom this was a first-ever visit to a prison, were said to have been subjected to "degrading" treatment in the name of checking for drugs, which Paddy was suspected of using.

Only after they were found to be clear were they given consent forms to sign.

Both suffered adverse health consequences. Alan, who had the mental age of a 12-year-old, was subsequently diagnosed as having post traumatic stress disorder, while Mrs Wainwright's depression worsened.

Mr Reston took up their case in a County Court action against the Home Office for assault and "the unlawful invasion of their personal privacy and right to dignity" - and won.

The Home Office accepted the finding of assault but appealed the rest of the judgment suggesting their privacy had been invaded, because it contravened nothing in English law.

The matter went right up to the House of Lords which, while expressing disquiet at prison officers' actions, concurred with that view.

Now the European Court of Human Rights, in Strasbourg, has disagreed, awarding the Wainwrights 3,000 euros each in damages to compensate for their injuries, stress and embarrassment, plus an award towards legal costs.

Mr Reston, 62, said: "Every one of us on earth has the right to be treated with decency and dignity unless that person abrogates those rights by savage misconduct.

"What Mary and Alan were subjected to that day was deplorable."