Alfie parents lose latest round in court fight

THE European Court of Human Rights cannot, and should not, overrule a decision to allow doctors to switch off life support for terminally ill toddler Alfie Evans, the Supreme Court has said.

The UK’S highest court ruled that there could be no further legal delay in the “desperately sad case” of the 23-month-old boy who has been at the centre of a life-support treatment battle. Alfie’s parents failed to persuade Supreme Court justices to consider their case for a second time.

Tom Evans and Kate James, both in their early 20s, had made another application after losing a second fight over their son at the Court of Appeal.

But yesterday a panel of three justices ruled that Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool “must be free to do what has been determined to be in Alfie’s best interests. That is the law in this country. No application to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg can or should change that,” the judges said.

Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, which is representing Alfie’s family, said: “We are going to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, hoping we can stay the end of life order our courts have made.”