A SURVIVOR of a church-run workhouse in Ireland has been awarded £69,500 after she was forced to work unpaid for almost six years as a child.

Mary Cavner, 80, from New Milton, won her fight for justice after an eight year legal battle over the time she spent at one of the notorious Magdalene laundries.

She was there from the age of 11 following the death of her father and was forced to work until 10pm every day.

Mary suffered from hunger and malnourishment and had no education.

She was forced to look after the babies of so-called fallen women and serve nuns their dinner in the evenings.

The mother-of-five spent years trying to convince the state that she worked at the Good Shepherd Convent in Co Cork, which was run by Catholic nuns.

The Irish Government formally apologised to all of the women confined to the institutions in 2013 and set up a redress scheme for the victims.

But Mary was denied compensation after the Irish authorities claimed she was at St Finbarr’s Industrial School which was not listed as part of this scheme.

Mary was among a number of women who complained to the Irish Ombudsman.

A report in November 2017 recommended that the scheme be extended to associated and adjoining institutions, which the Irish Government adopted.

Mary was born in Cork in 1939 and was made a ward of court in 1951 following her father’s death.

She spent five years and 10 months at the Catholic-run workhouse.

Mary said: “We weren’t allowed to talk or associate with anybody else which affected me throughout my life. To then be told that I was lying was devastating.

“I am speaking out as I want to tell all of the women who went through this but don’t have a voice to stand up and fight. This was never about getting compensation as whatever money they had given me it wouldn’t give me my lost childhood back. This was about holding those who made me stay in that laundry to account.”

Mary’s daughter Mandie claimed that the government produced attendance records for her at a Catholic school despite not having a single day at school after entering the laundry.

“Throughout this process mum has been called a liar and the way these women have been treated is disgusting,” said Mandie.

“They took away my mum’s childhood and then they treated her like that. It’s scandalous.”