Housing dispute leaves 18 children in a semi

(First Edition)

EIGHTEEN children and three adults are living in a four-bedroom semi-detached house while a council seeks to solve a waiting list dispute.

Kathleen McDonough, 39, a widowed mother of 13, arrived in Birmingham from Ireland and demanded that the council find a house for her and nine of her children.

Birmingham City Council officials offered Mrs McDonough a four-bedroom flat but she told them it was not good enough. Now housing officials are trying to find a another property. Meanwhile she is staying her brother John and his wife Kathy, and their nine children in Kenstone Croft, Highgate, Birmingham. She said: 'It gets desparate . . . We have up to five children sharing a bed, and we have meal times at six different sittings.'

The council's Conservative group spokesman Bernard Zissman said: 'It is no good Mrs McDonough making demands. She has to accept that it is difficult for housing officials to find a home for her and such a huge family.'