Now Alfie’s family accuse medics of conspiracy to murder
ALFIE Evans was ‘struggling’ for life last night as his parents revealed they had intervened to save him three times since his ventilator was removed.
The legal war over the fate of the brain- damaged toddler took another turn yesterday as appeal judges again refused Tom Evans, 21, and Kate James, 20, permission to take their son abroad for treatment.
The Court of Appeal was told tensions between doctors and the parents were high, after the couple’s decision to launch a private prosecution against medical staff whom they accuse of conspiring to murder Alfie.
There have also been protests at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool – which said staff and other patients and families had received abuse.
It came as it was revealed the Pope had ordered a helicopter be put on standby to fly 23-monthold Alfie to Italy.
At a hastily arranged appeal hearing in London yesterday afternoon, Paul Diamond of the Christian Legal Centre – who is representing Mr Evans – asked judges Lord Justice McFarlane, Lord Justice Coulson and Lady Justice King to let Alfie be flown to Rome for treatment.
The barrister said that there had been a ‘significant change of circumstances’ as Alfie was still breathing despite being taken off a ventilator at 9.40pm on Monday. Jason Coppel QC, representing Miss James, also claimed that as a European citizen Alfie ought to be allowed to fly to Italy.
But the judges rejected both lawyers’ claims, agreeing with the hospital that nothing had changed since a High Court judge first ruled in February that it was not in Alfie’s best interests to leave Alder Hey.
They said the fact that the child was breathing unaided did not mean he was improving because doctors had never suggested death would be instantaneous, and that in reality he was dying.
The hospital says Alfie has an incurable degenerative neurological condition which has destroyed almost all of his brain. Following a series of unsuccessful court challenges by his parents over the past three months, the toddler was taken off life support on Monday evening.
The following day, High Court judge Mr Justice Hayden urged the couple to cherish whatever precious time they had left with their son and ignore the ‘fanatical’ advice of pro-life supporters who were giving them ‘false hope’.
He urged them to rebuild relationships with Alfie’s doctors so that the toddler may be allowed home to die.
Rejecting the parents’ leave to appeal last night, Lord Justice McFarlane said he too was concerned about the role of hardline activists and fringe campaigners who had repeatedly latched on to Alfie’s parents – as they had in the case of Charlie Gard, who died last July after his parents battled to continue his treatment.
The judge called for a ‘wider investigation’ into the influence of malign ‘supporters’ and questioned whether they were preying on Alfie’s family when they were at their most vulnerable.
‘It has become apparent in particular in terms of the information we have been given … that the representation of the parents may have been infiltrated or compromised by others who purport to act on their behalf,’ Mr Justice McFarlane said.
Earlier Mr Evans, who listened to the court hearing via a telephone link, had posted an update on Facebook claiming that his son had needed his life ‘sustaining’ three times since the ventilator was switched off. It was previously confirmed that the couple had given mouth-to-mouth to Alfie in a bid to aid his breathing.
Friends were seen bringing ventilation equipment and a defibrillator to the hospital following calls from Alfie’s aunt Sara on Facebook yesterday.
However, it is unlikely relatives would be able to use such equip- ment on Alfie as to do so would be in breach of the court order.
‘For the third time we have sustained his life but the warrior is back again,’ Mr Evans said. ‘He has given us a little scare, he had a little dip and went pale.’
The father added: ‘He’s comfortable, content, fighting – the three words I’ve used all the way through this case. He’s more comfortable now he’s got no tube and he’s breathing for himself.
‘I don’t want to be big-headed and say, “I told you so”, but we had to fight hard against this to say, ‘Remove the drugs, remove the machine”, and he’s doing it now.
‘He ain’t showing no sign of suffering or that he needs support or anything. The nurses have been coming in to review him and they’re happy.
‘He looks comfortable. He looks chilled. And that’s the most important thing right now.’
‘Fanatical supporters’