NO right-minded person can have anything but sympathy with baby Alfie Evans’s parents Tom Evans and Kate James. Alfie had a degenerative neurological condition which was not definitively diagnosed. 

Top doctors reckoned they could do nothing for him. So it proved. He died early on Saturday morning aged just 23 months. It must be truly heartbreaking for his young parents. 

The people I have no sympathy with are the gang of self-appointed defenders of Alfie who were noisily picketing Alder Hey Children’s hospital, sounding car horns through the night and chanting: “Burn the hospital down!” 

They have kept up a barrage of abuse with no thought for other young patients and their families inside.

These self-appointed judge, jury and executioners, mostly claiming to be Christians, have sent death threats to all kinds of hospital staff including many who had no involvement with young Alfie’s care.

Much of this anger stems from the anti-abortion — sometimes called pro-life — brigade who believe that everybody should live by their evangelical Christian (and often Roman Catholic) beliefs.

Social media gives them a chance to spew out what chair of the hospital trust Sir David Henshaw called a barrage of abuse. 

They organised their ill-informed protests with no thought for emergency cases arriving by ambulance as well as urgent blood deliveries.     

The worst offenders in all this were Alfie’s parents’ latest law advisers, law student Pavel Stroilov and lawyer Roger Kiska, who encouraged Tom Evans to take out a private prosecution for murder against certain doctors involved in Alfie’s care.

Stroilov and Kiska are both closely associated with the Christian Legal Centre (CLC), part of the extreme right-wing organisation Christian Concern, which is known for its strident opposition to abortion, homosexuality and gender identity issues.

Justice Hayden, hearing the Evans’s appeal, expressed concerns that people like Stroilov were trying to “peck away at the good advice” given to Evans and Alfie’s mother Kate James by previous legal advisers.

The judge said the hospital had, in fact, provided world-class care for the child and other children. 

The judge also accused Stroilov of trying to “undermine the relationship between the parents and their official legal advisers and seriously distorted their views about their legal rights.”

The family’s former lawyer Mary Holmes has also said the anti-abortion lobby was exploiting the little boy and his desperate parents. 

She said: “These people I don’t believe are in it because they love Alfie — when this case is over they’ll move on to the next.”
No doubt she is right and now poor Alfie is dead Stroilov and Kiska and the CLC will move on to find another high-profile case to promote their religious agenda. 

The CLC has done this before in a number of high-profile cases. In most it has been spectacularly unsuccessful but it has always managed to wring maximum publicity even when it has lost. 

Among the worst examples taken up and lost by this bunch of reactionary bigots include Emily Mapfuwa, who launched a private prosecution against the Baltic Centre in Gateshead for exhibiting a statue of Jesus with an erection. Mapfuwa had never visited the exhibition. She lives over 250 miles away in Essex. The case was discontinued.  

Eunice and Owen Johns, a Christian couple who applied to become foster parents in Derby. Rejected when they said they could not tell a child a homosexual lifestyle was acceptable, the case went to court for clarification. The court ruled that laws protecting people from discrimination because of their sexual orientation should take precedence over the right not to be discriminated against on religious grounds. 

Gary McFarlane, a Relate counsellor who was sacked after raising objection to assisting same-sex couples with sexual issues. He lost his case.

Graham Cogman, a Norfolk police constable who was sacked for sending emails to gay colleagues with Bible passages condemning homosexuality and details of a Christian group that claimed to cure homosexuals.

Duke Amachree, a homelessness officer at Wandsworth Council who was sacked for subjecting a client to a 30-minute barrage of evangelism instead of housing advice.

Moves by the Pope and the Italian government to invite Alfie to come to live in Italy were less than helpful. 

After a tweet from the Pope to his 18 million followers they flew Alfie’s dad to the Vatican for a private audience with the pontiff. Tom Evans begged him to “save our son.” 

Italy, a staunchly Roman Catholic nation, then threw its weight behind the Pope’s campaign and granted little Alfie citizenship. 
Alfie’s parents hoped he could be transferred to the Bambino Gesu (Baby Jesus) Hospital in Rome — this appeal was rejected by High Court judges after doctors advised that Alfie was not well enough to survive an international flight.

Devout Catholic and right-wing Polish President Andrzej Duda jumped on the bandwagon too. He tweeted: “Alfie Evans must be saved! His brave little body has proved again that the miracle of life can be stronger than death. Perhaps all that’s needed is some good will on the part of decision-makers. Alfie, we pray for you and your recovery!” Four out of five Poles claim to be Catholics.

Even across the Atlantic Trump-admiring right-wing commentators have used poor little Alfie to attack our NHS. They claim state-funded healthcare means the state owns the child, not their parents.

Finally after accepting that their legal options had been exhausted, Alfie’s parents sought to build bridges with medical staff and pledged to work alongside doctors to give him “the dignity and comfort” Alfie needed.

By last Thursday: Tom Evans said: “We ... thank Alder Hey staff at every level for their dignity and professionalism during what must be an incredibly difficult time for them too.

Those devoted staff, although devastated by the circumstances of Alfie’s death, continue their work in a professional and caring manner. 

Alfie’s mum and dad now need time and privacy to come to terms with their tragic loss. Let’s hope the media and self-appointed “Alfie’s army” allow this to happen.

Meanwhile, no doubt, Stroilov and Kiska and the rest of the CLC will seek out another high-profile case to peddle their toxic right-wing evangelical agenda.