Government healthcare system shuts off infant's life support

Chris Gard, 32, and Connie Yates, 31, wanted to take their 10-month-old son - who suffers from a rare genetic condition and has brain damage - to the US to undergo a therapy trial.

Doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London, where Charlie is being cared for, said they wanted him to be able to 'die with dignity'. 

But the couple, from Bedfont, west London, raised almost £1.4million so they could take their son to America but a series of courts ruled in favour of the British doctors.

It comes after specialists at Great Ormond Street said therapy in the US is experimental and will not help and added that life support should stop. 

And after losing legal battles in the UK, Charlie's parents were hoping judges in Strasbourg, France, would come to their aid.

But on Tuesday afternoon, the ECHR rejected a last-ditch plea and their 'final' decision means the baby's life support machine will be switched off.