Lord Woolf questioned whether such cases should be backed

The Anufrijeva family's case was one of three human rights test cases heard by the Court of Appeal after it was thrown out by the High Court.

Alu Anufrijeva said her elderly mother did not have easy access to the house provided by Southwark Council in south London.

The family stayed in a series of temporary homes while they successfully sought asylum to remain in the UK from Lithuania, where they said they faced persecution as ethnic Russians.

The cases were heard in June by Lord Woolf, the country's top judge, together with the Master of the Rolls, Lord Phillips and senior judge Lord Justice Auld.

But Lord Woolf ruled on Thursday that Southwark had acted properly and were not compelled to provide superior accommodation under Article 8 of the Human Rights Act.

Close scrutiny needed

He said the cost of the three cases, funded through legal aid and estimated at �250,000, were "totally out of proportion" to damages which could have been awarded.

Southwark Council is now seeking costs against the family of �60,000.

Lord Woolf said: "Close scrutiny should be given whether to back cases of this nature."

"When the total costs of both sides are looked at, including the appeal, the figures are truly horrendous, and the situation is made even more worrying by the fact that all the parties are funded out of public funds."