Brothers in ‘narcissistic cult’ to stay in care

THREE teenage brothers should be removed from their mother’s care after they developed a “narcissistic cult” mentality and began speaking to each other in a private language, a High Court judge has concluded.

They formed a “group identity” and “saw themselves as intellectually superior and separate to the rest of the world”, psychotherapists told Mr Justice Hayden. The boys came to believe there was no point leaving home, socialising or going to school, and two of the boys spoke to each other in a “language they had devised”, the judge heard.

Detail of the case has emerged in a ruling by Mr Justice Hayden after a private hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London. The judge said social services at Wandsworth Council in London had responsibility for the boys’ welfare and had asked him to make decisions about their futures. Social workers had raised concerns, saying the children had suffered neglect as well as physical and emotional harm due to stress, inadequate food and a lack of medical provision.

Their mother, who had mental health issues, had “failed” to allow them to attend school, socialise or play outside. Mr Justice Hayden said the boys, who had been placed in residential care units pending a decision on their future, should stay where they were and not return to their mother’s care.