Police have vowed to tackle online threats over the case of Alfie Evans, the seriously ill boy at the heart of a protracted legal battle, after the hospital where he is being treated said medical staff had experienced “unprecedented personal abuse”.

The warning came after a court rejected a last-ditch appeal by the 23-month-old’s parents on Wednesday against an earlier ruling preventing them from flying him to Rome for further care.

On Wednesday evening, Ch Insp Chris Gibson said social media posts were being monitored and “any offences, including malicious communications and threatening behaviour, will be investigated and, where necessary, will be acted upon”.

The same day, the chairman of the Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, Sir David Henshaw, released an open letter saying he had been shocked by the abuse his staff have received.

On Monday a group of people claiming to support Alfie’s parents tried to storm the Liverpool hospital and some social media users have tried to publicly name the medical staff caring for the child.

There were rumours of a call on social media to storm the hospital on Wednesday night and a small group of the protesters outside it warned others they would be dispersed by police if such action was taken.

Henshaw said that Alder Hey staff had “endured attacks upon our motivation, our professionalism and our ethics”, adding that police had to be called in to keep patients and staff safe.

“Our staff have received in person, via phone calls, email, and through social media channels a barrage of highly abusive and threatening language and behaviour that has shocked us all. Worse still, patients and visitors to Alder Hey have also reported abuse.”

On Wednesday, three court of appeal judges backed the decision made at the high court the previous day to deny the request to fly Alfie to Italy after he was granted citizenship there.

The ruling followed a flurry of legal arguments by lawyers for Tom Evans and Kate James, the parents of Alfie, who was said to be “struggling” on Wednesday after being taken off life support.

They included the claim that medical staff involved in the boy’s treatment could face criminal charges in Italy if he dies.

The parents, from Liverpool, were not at the court in London for the hearing. While arrangements had been made to allow Evans to listen via a phonelink, technical difficulties appear to have prevented him doing so.

However, among those present was the chief of staff of the Italian embassy, who was said to be ready to give immediate instructions to a “military grade” air ambulance that had been put on standby to bring the boy to Italy at the request of the Pope.

As the legal argument got under way on Wednesday, a man and woman believed to be from a German air ambulance crew were escorted from Alder Hey children’s hospital, where Alfie has been treated for the past 16 months.

The high court ruled on Tuesday that Alfie may be allowed home from Alder Hey, where his life support has been withdrawn following a long legal fight, but barred the parents from taking their son to the hospital in Vatican City. Mr Justice Hayden said that although Alfie had been a “fighter” since his life support had removed, his undiagnosed degenerative condition had “almost entirely wiped out” his brain matter and he stood no chance of recovery.

On Wednesday, the appeal judges heard that James was now represented by a different barrister, Jason Coppel QC, who said she had told him by telephone: “Alfie is struggling and needs immediate intervention.”

Coppel advanced arguments on grounds that ranged from drawing on legislation governing EU freedom of movement through to suggesting that the child’s new Italian citizenship was a change in circumstances that should be taken into account.

An “erroneous” decision in the UK could open up the doctors who had been involved in treating Evans to criminal proceedings in Italy, he added.

He and Paul Diamond, the barrister representing Alfie’s father, both argued that there had also been a change of circumstances in that the boy had been surpassing expectations of how he would cope after his breathing tube had been removed 48 hours earlier.

The barrister for Alder Hey told Wednesday’s hearing that a focus on repeated appeals by Alfie’s parents meant they parents had been unable to engage in any discussion about withdrawal of care.

Rejecting the arguments put forward by legal counsel for the parents, Michael Mylonas QC, said that the doctors had never said that the child’s death would be instantaneous after his ventilator had been removed.

Contrary to what counsel for the parents suggested, there was no new medical evidence, he added. “It has never been said to this family that Alfie would die immediately or before sundown.”

Mylonas said nothing had changed in respect of Alfie’s ability to travel to Italy, telling the judges: “Alfie stands exactly the same risk of brain damage in transit.”



The Italian hospital has acknowledged it will not be able to find a cure, but has proposed maintaining Alfie’s life for about two weeks while doctors tried to investigate his condition. But the courts have accepted the view of the experts who have been treating him at Alder Hey that there is no realistic prospect of further treatment, other than palliative care.

Mylonas said the “tragedy” for the parents was that Alfie looked like a normal child. Lord Justice McFarlane said the family had the “awful journey” from getting to know their baby, only for signs to appear two or three months later that “all was not well”.