The Court of Appeal has refused to postpone the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment from 12-year-old Archie Battersbee beyond 12pm on Tuesday.

A last minute hearing was held today over whether life-support treatment should be withdrawn for 12-year-old Archie Battersbee, from Southend, just hours before it was due to end.

The Court of Appeal granted a virtual hearing for 11am on Monday after the Government asked it to “urgently consider” a request from the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to continue his treatment so the committee could examine his case.

Read more >>> Refusing UN request in Archie's case would breach international law, court told

The youngster was due to have his life-support at the Royal London Hospital in east London ended at 2pm on Monday, following a lengthy legal battle in which a High Court judge ruled this to be in his best interests.

The decision was later backed by the Court of Appeal and Archie’s family applied to the UN as a final attempt to prevent their son’s treatment from being stopped, with the committee contacting the Government on Friday.

A legal “stay” to prevent treatment being ended has also been put in place until 1pm Monday.

Barts Health NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, had written to the family over the weekend to inform them they intended to end treatment on Monday afternoon.

The Court of Appeal has now refused to postpone the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment from 12-year-old Archie Battersbee beyond 12pm on Tuesday.