Doctors accused of ‘conspiracy to murder’ by father of Alfie Evans
Private prosecution was threatened over Alder Hey Hospital’s treatment of critically ill toddler
THE father of Alfie Evans, the critically ill child at the centre of a bitter lifesupport dispute, threatened to take out a private prosecution for murder against doctors treating his son.
Mr Justice Hayden decided at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in Manchester on Tuesday that Alfie should not be allowed to leave Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool and travel to a hospital in Italy.
The judge had said he accepted medical evidence which showed that further treatment was futile.
Mr Evans and Kate James, Alfie’s parents, last night lost the latest round of their legal battle, when three judges dismissed their appeal against the decision. Mr Justice Hayden criticised what he described as the “malign hand” of one of the family’s advisers, law student Pavel Stroilov, who had been party to Mr Evans lodging a private prosecution of doctors at Alder Hey Hospital. He criticised Mr Stroilov as a “fanatical and deluded young man” and described a witness statement prepared for Alfie’s parents as “littered with vituperation and bile” that was doing them “far more harm than it does good”.
Lord Justice Mcfarlane yesterday told Paul Diamond, Mr Evans’ barrister: “Your client purported to take out a private prosecution to have three named doctors charged with the criminal offence of conspiracy to murder.
Those summonses were served on the doctors and I hear you say that there is no hostility to the NHS.”
It came as it emerged that 23-monthold Alfie, who stopped receiving lifesupport treatment late on Monday, is now “struggling” and is not expected to live much longer. Merseyside Police last night warned against threats made on social media against staff at Alder Hey. Health trust bosses said yesterday that staff have experienced “unprecedented personal abuse”. In an open letter, Sir David Henshaw of the Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, and chief executive Louise Shepherd said staff were at “the centre of a social media storm”. “Our staff have received in person, via phone calls, email, and through social media channels a barrage of highly abusive and threatening language and behaviour that has shocked us all,” they said. Chief Inspector Chris Gibson said: “These posts are being monitored and [I] remind social media users that any offences, including malicious communications and threatening behaviour, will be investigated and…acted upon.” Yesterday Mr Diamond told three senior judges that an Italian embassy representative was in court and an air ambulance was on standby at the “request of the Pope”. He added: “My general conversation with Mr Evans is ‘save my boy’. He would leave no stone unturned... he is clutching at straws.” Two people believed to be German air ambulance staff who were seen speaking to members of the Evans family were escorted from Alder Hey by police.
In a statement, the hospital said its “top priority remains ensuring Alfie receives the care he deserves to ensure his comfort, dignity and privacy are maintained throughout”.