Four men today won their unprecedented High Court action over the collapse of final salary pension schemes.

The four - Henry Bradley, Robin Duncan, Andrew Parr and Thomas Waugh - were among up to 75,000 victims who lost out on an estimated £15billion in pensions.

A judge at London's High Court ruled Pensions Minister John Hutton had no power to reject totally a report by Parliamentary ombudsman Ann Abraham.

The report had said the Government was guilty of maladministration and should consider offering victims compensation.

John Halford, of Bindman & Partners, solicitors for the pensioners, said: "The Government has been caught red-handed in an act of constitutional vandalism intended to deprive thousands of people of justice."

The cost of meeting the March 2006 recommendations for compensation has been put, in the House of Commons, at £15bn.

But the applicants say the true figure is £3.7bn at most, to be spread over 60 years with a peak cost, in net present value terms, of £100million per annum.

The judge, Mr Justice Bean, ruled Mr Hutton had acted unlawfully in rejecting the ombudsman's findings there was maladministration because pensioners were fed misleading information about the security of their pensions.

The ombudsman had said information had been "sometimes inaccurate, often incomplete, largely inconsistent and therefore potentially misleading, and this constituted maladministration".

Judge Bean directed the Government to look again at the ombudsman's recommendation it consider restoring "the core pension and non-core benefits promised".

The ombudsman had said restoration should be achieved "by whichever means is most appropriate, including if necessary by payment from public funds, to replace the full amount lost by those individuals".

The court heard the Secretary of State had agreed to pay the claimants' costs of the hearing and their reasonable costs of any appeal.

The judge granted the Government permission to appeal.

However, the question of whether to go straight to the House of Lords is still under consideration. The Secretary of State has 14 days to consider his position.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: "The Government wishes to consider the implications of this complex judgment, both in relation to this specific case and also more widely across the Government."