UK

New scan on the terminally ill baby Charlie Gard made for 'sad reading' court told

Charlie Gard's parents Connie Yates and Chris Gard arrive at the Royal Courts of Justice in London Picture: Lauren Hurley/PA
Charlie Gard's parents Connie Yates and Chris Gard arrive at the Royal Courts of Justice in London Picture: Lauren Hurley/PA Charlie Gard's parents Connie Yates and Chris Gard arrive at the Royal Courts of Justice in London Picture: Lauren Hurley/PA

Charlie Gard's father yelled "evil" after a lawyer representing Great Ormond Street Hospital broke the news that a report on a new scan on the terminally ill baby made for "sad reading".

The little boy's mother burst into tears as barrister Katie Gollop QC told a judge analysing the latest stage of a legal battle over Charlie's treatment what specialists thought of fresh scan results.

Connie Yates told Mr Justice Francis that she and Chris Gard had not yet seen the report.

The judge was analysing issues at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London on Friday when news of the scan results emerged.

Earlier this week the American specialist, Michio Hirano, a professor of neurology at Columbia University Medical Centre in New York, travelled to London to examine Charlie for the first time and discuss the case with Great Ormond Street doctors.

Lawyers say they will examine reports from that gathering and data from new scans carried out on Charlie, over the weekend.

Mr Justice Francis has told Charlie's parents that he will not re-run the case but will consider any ''new material''.

Ms Gollop told the judge specialists had produced a report on the newest scan and said: "It makes for sad reading."

Ms Yates began to cry and said: "We haven't even read it."

Mr Gard yelled "evil" before walking out of court.

Mr Gard and Ms Yates want Mr Justice Francis to rule that their 11-month-old son, who suffers from a rare genetic condition and has brain damage, should be allowed to undergo a therapy trial overseen by a specialist in New York.

Specialists at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, where Charlie is being cared for, say the therapy is experimental and will not help.

They say life support treatment should stop.

Charlie's parents, who are in their thirties and come from Bedfont, west London, have already lost battles in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court in London.

They have also failed to persuade European Court of Human Rights judges to intervene.

But the couple say there is new evidence and want Mr Justice Francis, who in April ruled in favour of Great Ormond Street and said Charlie should be allowed to die with dignity, to carry out a fresh analysis of their case.

The judge is due to consider their latest claims at a hearing starting on Monday.

He was examining preliminary issues on Friday when told about the scan results.

Ms Gollop apologised.

"Almost all the medical evidence in this case makes for sad reading," she told the judge.

"I'm very sorry. I didn't mean to cause distress."

Barrister Grant Armstrong, who represents the couple, said Ms Gollop should not have broken news about the scan before Charlie's parents had read the report.