Hannah Deacon is calling on the home secretary to allow her son Alfie to be given cannabis extract

A mother is urging the home secretary to allow her six-year-old son to be treated with cannabis for a rare form of epilepsy.

Alfie Dingley suffers up to 30 fits a day and his mother fears for his future without cannabis oil, which she says made a dramatic difference during treatment in the Netherlands.

However, because the compound is illegal in Britain Alfie’s family would face a 14-year jail sentence for giving it to him in this country.

The Home Office has refused to grant an exception for doctors to prescribe the drug to Alfie and his mother, Hannah Deacon, is appealing to Amber Rudd, the home secretary, to change her mind.

Alfie was born healthy but by the age of four he was having