DEATH THREATS OVER CHARLIE

Medics face abuse in the street

STAFF at Great Ormond Street Hospital are being bombarded with death threats over the Charlie Gard case.

Doctors and nurses have been abused in the street and have received thousands of threatening messages in recent weeks.

Hospital chairwoman Mary MacLeod said police have been called in.

Terminally-ill Charlie, inset, who has a rare genetic condition and brain damage, is the subject of a legal battle between his parents and medics over his treatment.

Ms MacLeod said: “Staff have received abuse both in the street and online. “Thousands of abusive messages have been sent to doctors and nurses whose lives’ work is to care for sick children. “Many of these messages are menacing, including death threats. “Families have been harassed and discomforted while visiting their children, and we have received complaints of unacceptable behaviour even within the hospital itself.” Charlie’s parents Chris Gard and Connie Yates are campaigning for their son to be allowed to undergo a therapy trial overseen by a specialist in New York.

But doctors at GOSH say it will not help Charlie and they want the 11-month-old’s life support to be turned off.

The case is due back before a High Court judge on Monday.

Labour MP Keir Starmer, whose Holborn and St Pancras constituency covers the London hospital, appealed for calm.

He said: “It is understandable that people feel very strongly about the case.

“But the abuse of staff at Great Ormond Street Hospital, outside the hospital and online, is totally unacceptable. There is no place for this abuse and it has to stop.”