The family of Archie Battersbee are spending their last hours with the tragic 12-year-old before his life support is withdrawn at 10am today.
A last-ditch appeal to the European Court of Human Rights to have him transferred to a hospice failed late last night, and Archie's mum Hollie Dance, 46, and dad Paul Battersbee, 56, were told they had exhausted all legal routes to try to keep their son on life support. Doctors at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, will turn off his life support this morning.
Archie has been in a coma since he was found unconscious by his mother in April following what appeared to be an internet game which went tragically wrong. His parents have had a long-running legal battle over the withdrawal of treatment through the High Court, Court of Appeal and, finally, the European Court of Human Rights.
