Marcus Jarvis, 20, who received no formal education after the age of 12, was trying to sue Hampshire County Council for letting him down.

But the Court of Appeal ruled on Thursday that Jarvis, who is serving a five-year jail sentence for robbery, could not proceed with his claim for compensation.

The case follows that of Pamela Phelps, who had her £45,650 High Court damages award, over a London education authority's failure to diagnose her dyslexia, taken away after a Court of Appeal ruling last year.

Solicitors acting for Jarvis said after the hearing they would try to petition the House of Lords to hear his case at the same time as the Law Lords review Ms Phelps' case next year

Jarvis was seeking a six-figure sum in compensation over Hampshire's alleged negligence in failing to provide him with the education he needed.

Pamela Phelps had her damages taken away from her

The case was being heard in the Court of Appeal, because the council was appealing against a High Court judge's refusal to strike out the negligence claim, and Jarvis was appealing over the judge's decision to strike out his claim of wrongdoing in public office.

Delivering his judgement on Thursday, Court of Appeal judge Lord Justice Morritt said Hampshire educational psychologist Hilary Hickmore had agreed in reports to the council that Jarvis had had "a rotten deal from the education system" and " a catastrophe of an education".

During his primary education, his learning difficulties were investigated, but he was sent to a mainstream comprehensive school in his home town Andover, where he found it "hard to cope with his feeling of failure and his need for additional support in front of other pupils".

The judge said it was recognised that Jarvis needed a school environment "where he does not feel different or less able than those around him".

But instead of placing him in a school which dealt with dyslexia or similar learning problems, the LEA recommended him for a place at a school for children with limited intellects.

The head of that school wrote in 1991 that he was "not prepared to be the cheap inappropriate option for an authority who is trying to save money".

No duty of care

The following year, the LEA placed Jarvis in another school for educationally subnormal pupils , but he left soon afterwards.

The judge said that from then on, Jarvis had no more formal education and received only limited home tuition.

Lord Justice Morritt said: "From January 1995 onwards Marcus committed a number of serious criminal offences, including robbery, for which he was sentenced to a term of five years imprisonment."

"The question for this court is whether, as the law now stands, his claim to be compensated by way of damages for the alleged failure of the council to provide him with an education appropriate to his needs can be allowed to proceed."

He ruled that a LEA does not owe a direct duty of care in the exercise of its powers relating to children with special educational needs.