Devon and Cornwall Police
The seven-year-old boy at the centre of a legal battle over his cancer treatment was undergoing brain surgery today after a judge over-ruled his mother’s refusal to allow the operation.
Neon Roberts was having a second procedure at an undisclosed ‘world-leading’ hospital in Britain to remove the inch-long remains of a tumour which neurosurgeons first operated on six weeks ago.
Yesterday judge Mr Justice Bodey ruled that Neon must have the urgent op despite his mother Sally Roberts saying she did not want him to have surgery because it could leave him mute.
However the judge, sitting in the Family Division of the High Court, over-ruled her after medics told him that Neon would die within three months if he did not have the op ‘extremely urgently.’
Today the boy’s relatives were anxiously waiting for news of the operation from Mrs Roberts, 37, and her estranged husband Ben, 34, who were at the hospital with their son.
Neon’s maternal grandmother Lilian Leese, speaking from her home at North Tawton, Devon, said: “I am just waiting to hear how the surgery has gone.
“I don’t really want to say anything more.”
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Before his operation Neon was given Christmas presents by his family.
His case was highlighted earlier this month when Mrs Roberts fled her home in Devon and went into hiding with Neon to prevent him from having radiotherapy.
The mother and son were found three days later in East Grinstead, West Sussex.
Mrs Roberts told a later High Court hearing that she had ‘no choice’ to runaway because she feared that radiotherapy would lower her son’s IQ and cause him other physical problems.
Her lawyers argued that she should be allowed time to explore alternative therapies for her ‘vibrant’ son.
However, NHS lawyers told the court that Neon needs an urgent course of radiotherapy and chemotherapy if he is to survive the disease.
Mr Justice Bodey is due to reconvene the case at the High Court tomorrow to rule on whether Neon should have radiotherapy - depending on the outcome of today’s surgery.
The judge has ruled that neither the hospital nor staff treating Neon should be disclosed.
Mrs Roberts, from Brighton, East Sussex, has appointed Imran Khan, a well known human rights lawyer, to represent her.
After yesterday’s hearing she said: “I’m not keeping this case going, spending taxpayers’ money, for nothing.
“I believe in this. ‘Death by doctor’- people need to understand how big a problem it is.”
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