Cardiff County Council has backed down in a legal battle with the BBC over a controversial current affairs programme which exposed a crisis in the authority's child protection system.

An edition of the award-winning series Week In Week Out claimed that youngsters had ended up on the streets, falling prey to drugs, drink and paedophiles.

We took this stand because we believe the public has a right to know when child protection is at risk and because we believe journalists should protect their sources

Karen Voisey, Editor, Week In Week Out

The council had threatened BBC Wales with legal action if it failed to reveal who had leaked a copy of the Child Protection Register to the programme makers.

The programme in October 2001 also featured whistleblower Charles Faber, a senior social worker who was suspended after claiming a child could die unless more resources and staff were brought in.

Within hours of appearing in the programme Mr Faber, who headed the city's Emergency Duty Team, was suspended from duty.

The day after transmission the council threatened an injunction, preventing the BBC from re-broadcasting the programme.

Serious allegations

It showed that some of the city's most vulnerable youngsters - those on the Child Protection Register - had been left without a named social worker to handle their cases.

Others were said to have been allocated to team managers and to social work assistants.

Reporter Betsan Powys could have been jailed

Publicly the council had denied this was happening, but the Week In Week Out team obtained a copy of that register which showed otherwise.

The council's lawyers tried forcing the journalists who had seen it to name their source but they refused.

The BBC was prepared to go to trial on the matter, with its journalists facing a fine or jail if they lost the case and refused to name their source.

The council has now admitted there were unallocated cases, and children were being allocated to unqualified social workers and team managers.

The restrictions on re-broadcasting the programme have now been lifted.

'Right to know'

Programme editor, Karen Voisey said: "This case could have potentially resulted in three journalists going to prison for their part in exposing serious failings in the care system.

"We took this stand because we believe the public has a right to know when child protection is at risk and because we believe journalists should protect their sources.

Charles Faber was suspended and later sacked

"All they (Cardiff Council) have succeeded in doing is preventing the programme from being re-broadcast or any reference made to its content until now.

"Whether children in the authority's care are any safer than they were remains to be seen."

Week In Week Out journalists spent months on the city's streets, often working undercover to find out how youngsters on the run from care were spending their time.

They discovered an 11 year-old boy who was on the Child Protection Register evading police late at night as he visited the home of a convicted sex offender, taking a 10-year-old boy with him.

A 14-year-old boy with learning difficulties was found in the company of the same paedophile while waiting for a foster placement.

Meanwhile Charles Faber is now fighting for re-instatement having been sacked by the council for financial mismanagement.

Mr Faber - a UNISON official - strenuously denies the charge and is taking the council to an employment tribunal later this year.

His sacking led to a strike involving hundreds of his colleagues who believe he was sacked for whistle blowing.

See an updated version of Week In Week Out: Running Into Crisis on BBC One Wales, Monday 27 May, at 2235 BST.