A ten-year-old boy who has cancer and needs ‘urgent surgery’ has vanished, a High Court judge has said.

The youngster, who has not been identified, is Polish and could be in Poland with his parents, Mr Justice Mostyn said.

Detail of the boy’s case emerged today in a ruling by the judge following hearings in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

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A doctor has told the judge that the boy will die a ‘brutal and agonising death’ within six months to a year if a tumour is not removed ‘very soon’.



Mr Justice Mostyn said the Polish embassy in London was being alerted.

He urged the boy’s parents to co-operate with doctors.

'His head will swell up grotesquely' Mr Justice Mostyn said in his ruling: ‘He has a very rare aggressive cancer in his right jawbone. Its medical name is a craniofacial osteosarcoma. It is about four inches long and one-and-a-half inches wide. ‘The unambiguous medical evidence given to me in writing and orally by a distinguished paediatric oncologist… is that if it is not removed very soon then in six months to a year [the boy] will die a brutal and agonising death. ‘She has spelt this out in remorseless and unflinching detail. [The boy] will not slip peacefully away. ‘The cancer will likely invade his nerve system affecting basic functions such as speaking, breathing and eating. ‘His head will swell up grotesquely. His eyes may become closed by swelling. ‘A tracheostomy may be needed to allow breathing. Above all, the pain will likely be excruciating. The matter is critically urgent.’

He said it was possible that the boy, who had lived in England with his parents for two years, was in Poland.

Mr Justice Mostyn added an NHS trust with responsibility for the boy’s care had asked him to rule that specialists could perform surgery.

Doctors said the youngster’s parents preferred to treat their son with ‘Chinese medicine’.

The judge said the couple had ‘not engaged’ in court proceedings.

Mr Justice Mostyn said he had concluded that surgery was in the boy’s best interests – notwithstanding his parents’ lack of consent.

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