A MOTHER faces trial next month for keeping her daughter off school for a year.

Pamela Allen, of Maidenburgh Street, Colchester, took daughter, Faye, out of St Helena School in March last year after claiming the teenager’s human rights had been breached.

Faye, then 15, had been ordered to spend a day working away from her classmates as a punishment for alleged truancy.

The teenager has not been back to the Colchester school since, and will be taking her GCSEs next month through a private company.

Colchester Magistrates’ Court ruled Mrs Allen, who was not present in court, should face trial for failing to ensure Faye went to school.

District judge John Woollard said a report on Mrs Allen’s health revealed no reason why she could not come to court, so he set May 15 as a trial date.

Speaking after the hearing, Mrs Allen said she was seriously unwell with depression and anxiety and had sent four doctors’ letters to court to prove this.

She added: “I did not attend court because I’m not well.

“I am not guilty. Faye has been too ill to attend St Helena School and there are unavoidable causes too – the way the school has treated us for one.”

Mrs Allen said she would represent herself in court and had asked the court to postpone her trial, so she could properly prepare her case.

Mrs Allen took Faye out of school last March after she was punished for truancy, something both she and Mrs Allen deny.

At the time, the school said Faye would be allowed back, but would have to finish her day in isolation, something Mrs Allen claimed breached her daughter’s human rights.