A child born with foetal alcohol syndrome is not legally entitled to compensation after her mother drank excessively while pregnant, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

The seven-year-old girl was born with severe brain damage and is now in care.

Lawyers argued her mother had poisoned her foetus but appeal judges ruled she had not committed a criminal offence.

The case was brought by a council in the North West of England, which cannot be named for legal reasons.
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    It's not about women's rights, it's not about criminalising women”

Neil Sugarman Solicitor

It had been argued the woman ignored warnings and drank a "grossly excessive" amount of alcohol while pregnant.

She consumed eight cans of strong lager and half a bottle of vodka a day, the court heard.

Three appeal judges at the Court of Appeal had to rule on whether or not the girl was entitled to a payout from the government-funded Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme as a victim of crime.

But Lord Justice Treacy said an "essential ingredient" for a crime to be committed "is the infliction of grievous bodily harm on a person - grievous bodily harm on a foetus will not suffice".
'Hugely important' case

The girl, who cannot be named and was referred to in court as CP, suffers with learning, development, memory and behavioural problems.

BBC News legal correspondent Clive Coleman said the case was significant because it centred on whether or not a foetus was considered a person, independent of its mother.

He said: "This case was hugely important, because campaigners argued that if the Court of Appeal had said it was possible for a mother to commit a crime by poisoning her foetus with excessive alcohol, it would have had the effect of criminalising pregnant women who drank excessively, knowing the dangers of alcohol to their foetus."
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Foetal alcohol syndrome

Heavy drinking during pregnancy can lead to foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS).

Alcohol passes across the placenta from the mother to the developing foetus.

But the foetus cannot process alcohol effectively until the liver is fully developed and the high levels of alcohol can affect the development of organs and the brain.

Children with FAS are born with a range of disabilities, are often shorter than average and some have learning and behavioural difficulties.

People with the syndrome can have differences in their facial features such as a flat nose bridge, a small head and a thin upper lip.

It is thought that foetuses are most at risk during the first three months of pregnancy when organs are forming - but damage can occur at any time.
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John Foy QC, representing the council that has responsibility for CP, told the court her mother drank the equivalent of 40-57 units of alcohol a day.

National Institute for Health and Care (Nice) guidelines suggest 7.5 units daily might damage a foetus.

Mr Foy said the young mother, for whom it was a second pregnancy, was aware of the dangers, adding: "She was reckless as to whether there would be harm to the foetus.

"She foresaw that harm might be caused but went on to take the risk."

Ben Collins, appearing for the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) had asked the court to reject the legal challenge, telling the judges: "There is a conflict of ideas about what is or is not dangerous, not only in terms of drink but also in terms of smoking and food."

He asked whether "a pregnant mother who eats unpasteurised cheese or a soft boiled egg knowing there is a risk that it could give rise to a risk of harm to the foetus" could be accused of a crime.

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (Bpas) and the childbirth charity Birthrights welcomed the ruling.
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Mum "Kathryn" tells 5 live she drank up to two bottles of wine a day whilst pregnant

Rebecca Schiller, co-chair of Birthrights, and Bpas chief executive Ann Furedi said it was "an extremely important ruling for women everywhere".

"The UK's highest courts have recognised that women must be able to make their own decisions about their pregnancies," they said.

"Both the immediate and broader implications of the case were troubling. In seeking to establish that the damage caused to a foetus through heavy drinking was a criminal offence, the case called into question women's legal status while pregnant, and right to make their own decisions."
'Wake-up call'

Neil Sugarman, the solicitor acting for CP, said the decision was "clearly disappointing" and that the case was not about women's rights or "criminalising women".

He said GLP Solicitors, of which he is managing partner, represents about 80 other children with FAS and that they would now be looking at the implications of the ruling.

The only legal option left is to seek to take the case to the Supreme Court.

Julia Brown, chief executive of the Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) Trust, told the BBC the case highlighted the need for pregnant women to be given advice about drinking, and support to stop drinking if necessary.

"There are no winners in a case like this," she added, saying she hoped it would be a "wake-up call" to make people think about the dangers of drinking when pregnant.

The NHS recommends that pregnant women should not drink at all - adding that those who choose to have a drink should have no more than two units of alcohol once or twice a week.

On Friday, the UK's largest retailers are expecting thousands of people to descend on their stores to pick up a bargain.

Black Friday, the big sales day in the US that follows the Thanksgiving holiday, is being adopted by more and more shops in the UK.

It was brought over by online store Amazon four years ago as internet shoppers noticed the US got the best deals.

"The global nature of the internet means the best deals can't be kept in America," says Nick Bubb, an independent retail analyst.

Most offers will be on electrical goods such as TVs, tablets, kitchen gadgets and audio hardware, he says, as electricals are often where shops can get the best deals from suppliers.
Beat Boxing Day

In the UK, Black Friday has been led by "the three As," says Mr Bubb: Amazon, Apple and Wal-Mart's Asda.

And this year is likely to see the biggest Black Friday sales yet as more people know about the event and more shops participate, say analysts.

Tesco says it expects Black Friday to beat Boxing Day sales in 2014 as it prepares discounts of as much as 70%. Its 24-hour stores will begin selling a minute after midnight, and more staff may be laid on in some areas.

This year rival Sainsbury's will enter the fray with 485 stores taking part, while Asda says it will be using the buying power of its US-based owner Wal-Mart to bring more bargains to UK shoppers.
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - NOVEMBER 29: A high street department store entices shoppers with a pre-Christmas sale on November 29, 2013 in London, John Lewis will add staff to cope with expected demand in its stores
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    Buy now or regret - getting consumers to trick themselves... It encourages more spontaneous purchases with less thought”

Jacques de Cock London School of Marketing

Department store John Lewis says it will put on about 100 deals and will add staff at its main distribution centre and in stores.

"Following steady growth over the last few years, Black Friday really emerged in the UK in 2013, when we saw the day break our previous records for a single day's online trade," says Mark Lewis, online director at John Lewis.

According to a Visa estimate, spending on Black Friday in the UK will be up 22% on last year with £1m spent on its cards every three minutes on the day.
'Finite pot'

A product of this Christmas sale in November is lengthening the shopping season, says Jacques de Cock of the London School of Marketing.

"Ultimately, customers only have a finite pot of money," he says, but purchases made sooner rather than later mean "people will forget" what they've spent, so shops are trying to lengthen the shopping season.

Another reason for this early sales event is its part in the game of chicken played between shops and shoppers, says Clare Rayner, founder of the Support for Independent Retail campaign.
Christine Rocha and her cousin Melissa Menses gather their purchases at the check out stand during Black Friday sales at Target in the South Shore Plaza on November 23, 2012 in Braintree, Massachusetts. Black Friday, the start of the holiday shopping season, has traditionally been the busiest shopping day in the United States. Customers and shops are in an annual game of chicken, says Clare Rayner
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    The biggest problem is no-one will want to buy full price ever again”

Nick Bubb Independent retail analyst

Customers have money to spend and want to buy gifts, which the retailers know.

On the other side of the coin, shops need the festive period to be a profitable one to keep shareholders happy or merely to survive, which consumers know.

This has previously meant customers being prepared to wait and wait for the best deals to arrive, knowing shops will eventually blink and offer them a bargain for fear of losing their custom to a competitor.

Now shops are adopting this American tradition of a pre-Christmas sale period to capture those sales.
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Black Friday in the US
NOVEMBER 29: Black Friday shoppers carry away discounted items from at a Best Buy store which opened its doors at 6pm on Thanksgiving Day this year on November 29, 2013 in Naples, Florida. One of the busiest days in the calendar for retailers, over a dozen US stores opened their doors to shoppers one day ahead of the famed-Black Friday shopping day.

    Black Friday kicks off the Christmas shopping season in the US
    It became the biggest shopping day of the year in the US in 2001
    But recent years have seen stampedes in stores
    Four people have died and 56 injured in Black Friday incidents since 2006

Ten things you didn't know about Black Friday
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Small Business Saturday

But what about smaller competitors?

Ms Rayner says independent shops will soon have to start planning for next year if they want to offer discounts comparable to their larger peers, because of the planning and negotiating that will be necessary.

Smaller shops are trying to import the US answer to Black Friday for independent shops - Small Business Saturday - which is proving challenging, she says.

"Some local councils are offering free parking on the Saturday but some shops don't even know it exists to encourage customers in... getting it together is difficult."

She adds: "If independent retailers want to have a part in Black Friday they will need the budget."

Doing cheap deals means giving away profit margin, which is a gamble, she says.

Many of the deals for the retailing giants will be supplier-funded, says Ms Rayner.

This means a big store company will have agreed a promotional deal with a supplier, such as a TV manufacturer. That can help the manufacturer gain market share at the expense of the competition, but it saddles most of the risk, rather than the retailer.
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - NOVEMBER 29: Oxford Street crowds on November 29, 2013 in London, United Kingdom. According to a Visa estimate, spending on Black Friday will be up 22% on last year

As for shoppers, there are some tricks to be aware of, says Mr de Cock of the London School of Marketing.

He says retailers are relying on Black Friday's fleeting nature and so-called flash sales to get shoppers to buy.

"Buy now or regret - getting consumers to trick themselves" is part of the gambit, he says. "It encourages more spontaneous purchases with less thought."

His advice: "Don't buy it just because it's discounted."
Full price?

Consumers should also beware of companies using it as a good way to dispose of end-of-line products, particularly in technology, he says.

And they should also realise that the UK discounts on most products don't come close to the discounts available in the US, where 70% cuts are more commonplace.

Mr de Cock says Amazon may be the biggest winner on the day because they have the most experience.

For analyst Nick Bubb, shops also need to be careful about how many sales they run. "The biggest problem is no-one will want to buy full price ever again."