The father of a seriously ill 20-month-old boy broke down in tears as a court was told that further hospital treatment was “inhumane”.

Tom Evans and Kate James, both 20 and from Liverpool, want to take their son Alfie to an Italian children’s hospital to treat his undiagnosed illness.

A hearing to decide if life support should be withdrawn was stopped briefly while Evans was comforted by family, as the court was told that further treatment was “futile”.

The child, born on 9 May 2016, is in a semi-vegetative state and has a degenerative neurological condition that hasn’t been definitively diagnosed by doctors.

Despite mediation between the parents and hospital specialists caring for Alfie, his parents want him to undergo further treatment and operations for his condition.

They believe their son responds to them – but the court heard that any movements by the child are spontaneous seizures as a result of touching.

Lawyers acting for Alder Hey children’s hospital in Liverpool argue further treatment for Alfie is unkind and inhumane.

Michael Mylonas QC, representing the hospital, told the high court in Liverpool: “One of the problems of this case is they look at him and, barring the paraphernalia of breathing and feeding, he’s a sweet, lovely, normal-looking boy who opens his eyes, will smile ... ”

At this point, Evans, sitting next to the lawyer, broke down, sobbing into his hands before a break to proceedings was called by Mr Justice Anthony Hayden, hearing the case.

The judge, who told the court he had the “privilege” of visiting Alfie in hospital, said: “Everybody in this court shares the same objectives, everybody wants the best for Alfie.”

Mylonas, outlining the case for the hospital, said scans of Alfie had shown “catastrophic degradation of his brain tissue” which was getting worse, and that the child was now only able to breathe through intervention by medical equipment. The barrister said Alfie was also regularly having fits, often triggered by touching.

At the request of the parents, three medical experts from the Vatican-linked Bambino Gesu paediatric hospital in Rome had visited Alfie in Alder Hey, Mylonas said.

However they had reached the same conclusions in terms of the “complete futility” of trying to find a cure or alleviating his seizures and they could not provide any other treatment.

The two-day hearing continues.