The parents of two severely disabled boys have lost their appeal to make Wandsworth Council pay for alterations to their home.

Michael and Henrietta Spink, of Sugden Road, Battersea, took the council to the High Court and argued it should pay for adaptations to help them look after their sons, without taking their income into account.

But Lord Phillips, Master of the Rolls Lord Justice May and Lord Justice Rix said October's original ruling was correct and the council is entitled to consider the family's income.

Henry, 17, has a global learning disability, which means he cannot dress, feed or go to the toilet himself. He cannot talk and is at the same level of development as a six to nine-month-old child.

His younger brother Freddie, 13, has severe learning and physical difficulties. He is autistic and is at the same stage as a three-year-old child.

Both boys need 24-hour care and their parents say they need lifts, hoists and specially-fitted bathrooms for them.

In their ruling, the judges said: "The background to the dispute is tragic. If Mr and Mrs Spink had disclosed their means to the council, it might have agreed with them that they could not afford to pay for or contribute to the cost of the alterations.

"In that event, there would have been no need to resort to the courts and incur legal costs, which we suspect by now amount to as much or more than would have been required to carry out the alterations."

But Mrs Spink said she was pursuing the case to make life easier for parents of the 700,000 disabled children in the UK.

Under the ruling, parents' income will only be assessed before a council pays for alterations if the child is under 16.

But the decision is unlikely to affect the Spinks they have decided to sell their house, buy a yacht and sail across the Atlantic with the boys.

They hope a ground-breaking research programme in America, which both boys are enrolled in, will unlock the neurological blockage that stops Henry's brain giving his body instructions.

Mr and Mrs Spink hope the diffusion tensor imaging will also help Freddie.

shalls@london.newsquest.co.uk