A FATHER left with a £26,000 legal bill, after trying in vain to get his child into a top Liverpool school, last night said parents should lie their way into securing a place.

The 49-year-old Liverpool solicitor took on West Derby secondary St Edward’s College in the High Court and lost.

The father, who cannot be named for legal reasons, must pay the Sandfield Park school’s £16,000 costs and his own £10,000 legal fees after a High Court judge dismissed his claim that it and its appeals panel were wrong to refuse her a place. He had attempted to secure a place in 2009 under the school’s criteria which, in the event of oversubscription for places, gives priority to children on “medical and social” grounds.

Armed with letters of support from his GP, the headteacher of a previous school and a counsellor, he applied on the basis of his daughter’s “anxiety and social need to be with her friends”.

But the High Court ruled in favour of the school, where, in September, 2009, there were 571 applications received for 150 new starter (aged 11) places.

Court papers reveal eight out of 27 applicants were given a place under the medical and social criteria. Those awarded a place included children suffering bereavements, acute health problems and a bullying victim who required “strong pastoral support”.

Speaking last night, the father claimed “to this day” he had not had an explanation why his daughter had been refused a place.

He said: “My advice to other parents is lie and cheat. Don’t be honest like I was, as it gets you nowhere.”

He said his “shy and timid” daughter suffered from anxiety and “social problems” for which she has received counselling.