Terminally ill Alfie Evans may be allowed home, a judge has ruled but he will not be allowed to go to Rome for further treatment.

Mr Justice Hayden described the 23-month-old at the centre of a life support battle as "courageous" and a "warrior", but said the case had now reached its "final chapter", he told a High Court hearing in Manchester.

He rejected claims by Alfie's father, Tom Evans, 21, that his son was "significantly better" than first thought because he had now been breathing unaided for 20 hours after doctors first withdrew life support on Monday night at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool.

Instead, the judge said the best Alfie's parents could hope for was to "explore" the options of removing him from intensive care either to a ward, a hospice or his home.

But a doctor treating Alfie, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said that for Alfie to be allowed home would require a "sea change" in attitude from the child's family, and they feared that in the "worst case" they would try to take the boy abroad.