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A former City worker praised by David Cameron for setting up a “brilliant” home-school network today told of her two years of “hell” being pursued through the courts over the education of her son.

Mother-of-three Sophie Sotello, 46, claims she has been “hounded” by Kensington and Chelsea council because of concerns over the education provided to Gabriel, 11.

A School Attendance Order was made in June last year after officers ruled the child, described by one expert as “very articulate, able to touch type, with an adult reading age”, was not receiving a suitable education.

Mrs Sotello, who lives in Chelsea, still refused to send him to a mainstream school and was convicted of failing to comply with the order in March this year and fined £1,020.

She was due to appear at the Old Bailey today to appeal the conviction and apply to overturn the order. But the council last night announced it had dropped the case, within minutes of being contacted by the Standard.

Mrs Sotello said: “It has been two years of absolute hell. It almost ruined our family but at least we are alive and will try to recover.”

She began home-schooling her eldest son Luka in 2000 when, she believes, the council wrongly diagnosed him with special educational needs.

She resigned from her management job at financial services firm Misys to design a curriculum around his needs and he has thrived as a gifted pianist.

Luka, now 20, helps to care for his sister Lydia, 17, who had to have surgery as a baby which left her with learning disabilities. Mrs Sotello and her husband Cristian, 49, who works at Sotheby’s auction house, set up the Junior Academy of Excellence in 2008 to provide alternative learning for other under-16s using activities, colours and mindmaps rather than learning by rote.

At its peak it offered specialist classes to 20 children, running them at local drop-in centres, as an alternative to mainstream schooling.

The charity was hailed by the Government as “brilliant idea” as part of the Big Society and the family was invited to Downing Street by Samantha Cameron two years ago.

Mrs Sotello believes the problems began in September 2013 when Kensington and Chelsea merged its education teams with City of Westminster and Hammersmith and Fulham councils in a tri-borough agreement.

She refused to let council officers into her home to conduct an inspection which prompted the legal action.

State schools receive extra funding for each child with special educational needs and Mrs Sotello said: “The private joke within our home schooling community is they are treating this like a parking ticket and just want the revenue like it’s easy money.

“But I love the freedom and the way of life we have and I’m not going to let bureaucrats take that from me.”

A spokesman said: “Some parents choose to educate their children at home, which is their right. When this happens we believe we have a duty of care to establish that the child is receiving a suitable education.

“In this case, despite many requests, the parent refused to provide details of the home education arrangements which eventually led to a successful prosecution.

“The parent has now provided us with the information we originally requested which demonstrates that the child is receiving a suitable education. Therefore the legal proceedings can cease.”

Mrs Sotello said: “Everyone has to learn from this, and I do not want other parents of home-schooled children going through the same thing we have. The bottom line is parents should get the right information and not rely on what they are told.”