At London's Court of Appeal Lord Justice Wall said he understood the mother's deep sense of injustice.

He said very little had been done by the council to understand her problems and she had been "badly let down".

However he said the county court judge who ruled adoption was the best course had been entitled to make that ruling.

How this arrangement was allowed to occur beggars belief Lord Justice Wall

Lord Justice Wall said the mother, from Northampton, had deserved better at the hands of the local authority.

The mother, who cannot be named, was challenging the ruling that adoption was in the baby's best interests because the father, who was considered "extremely dangerous", was likely to have too big a role in her upbringing.

Lord Justice Wall, sitting with Lord Justice Waller, said after a "wretched" beginning with her drug-addicted prostitute mother, the teenager was abused by her step-father and next-door neighbours before being taken into care at the age of 13.

She was also abused in foster care before being allowed to live at the age of 15 with an older man - described by Lord Justice Wall as an "extremely dangerous" career criminal with a drug problem and a personality disorder.

Particularly vulnerable

"How this arrangement was allowed to occur beggars belief," the judge said.

Within months she was pregnant by him and, when the baby was born, the mother and baby were taken to a residential unit so her parenting skills could be assessed.

Lord Justice Wall said the mother found the accommodation damp and mouldy, without gas, hot water or a cooker, and by the council's own admission it was inappropriate.

Although she had good parenting skills, she was visited by the father when he was high on drugs and ended up rowing with council staff.

The baby was then taken into foster care, and at Northampton County Court she was freed for adoption after a judge ruled it was in her best interests to live with a new family as the father was likely to play too great a role in her upbringing.

On Wednesday, the mother, representing herself, said although the council approved the father as her carer when she was particularly vulnerable, they now viewed him as a pimp and a paedophile unsuitable to be around their daughter.

'Risk too great'

She also argued she had not been given a proper chance to show she could care for her child.

Quoting from the conclusions of the judge who heard the case at the county court, Lord Justice Wall said the mother had been "very badly let down" by the council.

He added that "virtually nothing" had been done to understand her problems and if a fraction of the money spent on legal proceedings had gone on therapy for her, then the "disaster" of her current situation would never have happened.