Helen Sagal took an unequivocal view of the proceedings. “I can’t imagine how Mrs Lightman goes to work there. I know they have absolved the school from any responsibility, but I don’t believe the school is blameless.
“JFS could have done something to stand up for what is the right thing and that is the shame of it. You have to have the human touch in the end and that is what this case lacks,” added Mrs Sagal.
“Somebody should have the good sense to sit back and say this is nonsense. What are we doing in this position?
“We should not have to be in this situation where one person is taking another to the High Court over this. I just think what all that money could have gone towards — equipment, maybe even a new school building. The time and the expense are completely unnecessary.
“There’s a phrase I learned when I was studying law, that the welfare and the rights and the interests of the child are paramount. Did the court ever mention the interests of the child in all this? Have you heard the interests of the child mentioned?
“No-one has stepped back from it all to see what is going on. I think the school should have had the balls to do this. They should set the example to our children and they should have stood up for what is right.
“I do think that the Chief Rabbi, in quiet moments on his own, alone with his thoughts, might have a few regrets about what has happened. And given the chance again, he might do it differently.”
The 44-year-old mother of three lives in Mill Hill.
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