A HUSBAND and wife have been made to pay £100 for allowing their daughter to skip school.

Dorothy and Joseph Whatmore were given a conditional discharge after they admitted failing to make 15-year-old Kelly attend the Chase High School in Malvern.

But Droitwich magistrates demanded the couple meet prosecution costs of £50 each.

Richard Jones, prosecuting for Worcestershire County Council, said the teenager had been to 68 out of 108 lessons between February and May this year.

Last September, he revealed, the Whatmores had been in court facing a similar charge relating to their elder daughter. Warning letters had been sent, but ignored, Mr Jones said.

"But since the start of term last week, Kelly has attended every day," he added.

"There's been a slight improvement.

"Various enquiries have been made with the education welfare officer and there had been no excuse for the child not to attend school."

Juliet Simms, defending, said the 15-year-old had only clocked up 27 "unauthorised absences" - where there was no legitimate excuse.

"Most of the times she didn't attend were due to the fact that she suffers from temporary paralysis on one side of her face," Miss Simms said.

"It prevents her from speaking properly or blinking in one eye. That caused her some embarrassment that she would be teased or taunted."

She said reasons for Kelly's non-attendance included the suspension of her bus pass and floods near her home in Highfields, Knightwick.