Press Release

Indi has life-support removed after being transferred to hospice with police presence

12 November 2023         Issued by: Christian Concern

8-month-old Indi Gregory as been transferred from the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham to a hospice and has had her life-support removed after Friday’s ruling from the Court of Appeal.

It is understood that Indi was transferred from the hospital to an ambulance with a security escort. Even the police were present outside of the hospital.

Indi was then transferred to a hospice without incident and was relaxed and slept during the journey.

At the hospice she has had her life-support removed. Last night she stopped breathing, but then recovered.

Her father, Dean Gregory, has said: ‘She is fighting hard.’

Yesterday Pope Francis released a statement from the Vatican which said: “Pope Francis embraces the family of little Indi Gregory, her father and mother, prays for them and for her, and turns his thoughts to all the children around the world in these same hours who are living in pain or risking their lives because of disease and war.”

Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said: “Dean and Claire are by the side of their precious daughter Indi, keeping watch over her. We ask for your prayers for them.”

Court of Appeal ruling

On Friday evening, some of the most senior judges in the UK ruled that the Italian intervention in Indi case under the Hague Convention is ‘wholly misconceived’ and ‘not in the spirit of the convention’.

Furthermore, Lord Justice Peter Jackson, Lady Justice Eleanor King and Lord Justice Andrew Moylan, refused the family permission to appeal a ruling which said Indi’s life-support cannot be removed at home.

Instead they ordered that Indi’s life-support should be removed immediately.

The ruling was made despite Indi being granted Italian citizenship and on Thursday her Italian guardian making an urgent application to the UK High Court calling on Mr Justice Robert Peel to cede jurisdiction of the case to him under Article 9§2 of the 1996 Hague Convention.

It was also revealed on Friday that the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, has urgently written to the UK’s Lord Chancellor calling for the two countries to officially collaborate on facilitating Indi’s transfer to Rome under the Hague Convention.

Prime Minister Meloni has written to the Rt. Hon Alex Chalk outlining the urgent application made by Indi’s Italian guardian yesterday to the UK High Court.

The application called on Mr Justice Robert Peel to cede jurisdiction of the case to the Italian guardian under Article 9§2 of the 1996 Hague Convention.

The Italian consul in Manchester, Dr Matteo Corradini, in his capacity as guardianship judge for the 8-month-old, made the order which has immediate effectiveness due to the imminent danger to the life of Indi.

The urgent application by the Italian guardian followed Indi being made an Italian citizen earlier this week and her Italian guardian issuing an emergency measure recognising the authority of the Italian courts in this case.

The Bambino Gesù Paediatric Hospital in Rome has agreed to accept Indi for treatment and to carry out the right ventricular outflow tract stent procedure that has been put forward by medical experts. The Italian government has offered to fund the treatment at no cost to the NHS or UK taxpayer.

Despite Friday’s ruling and remarks from the Court of Appeal judges, it is still unclear how the UK Courts will officially respond to the application made by Indi’s Italian guardian.

The UK government continues to refuse to comment on the case.