A dominating dad whose three children were taken into care to save them from his "disfunctional" relationship with their mother has lost his fight to have them returned to him.

Oxfordshire County Council took the children into care in May after a judge ruled that their parents' relationship was causing them harm.

The man, who lives in the Oxford area but who cannot be named for legal reasons, claimed they were now being "emotionally abused" because they were being deprived the right to a family life.

Representing himself in London's Appeal Court, he said: "They are in care against their will and against mine.

"These children are being denied the right to a family life and they can have a fine family life with me."

He said his children were also unable to see each other on a regular basis as they had been sent to different foster homes and were attending different schools.

"They have occasional telephone contact, but the youngest doesn't have a mobile phone," he said. "The youngest especially is extremely upset by all this."

Lord Justice Scott Baker said the parents had married in 1991 and split up five years later, but still had a "hot and cold" relationship.

The three children initially lived with their mother after the separation, but were later taken into foster care.

The father has since made a series of applications to have the children returned to him, but each has been turned down by the courts.

Lord Justice Baker refused his application for leave to appeal against the care order, backing the decision of a judge at Oxfordshire County Court in May.

He said: "The judge said that the father exerted a great deal of control over the mother and the children.

"He concluded that the wishes of the children at this stage were not a reliable indicator as to where they should live because of their emotional and behavioural problems.

"The relationship between mother and father doesn't appear to be completed and there is, it seems, a hot and cold element in it, because they have attempted recon- ciliation.

"It is the relationship of the two parents, which is so disfunctional, that is at the root of the difficulties with the children. Neither the father or mother is able to offer safe or good enough emotional parenting to any of the children for the foreseeable future."