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Nottingham Post
Nottingham Post
National
Matthew Dresch & Jamie Barlow

Archie Battersbee's funeral will take place next month as family release new details

The funeral of Archie Battersbee - who died earlier this month after a failed legal battle to keep him on life support - will take place on September 13. A spokesman for campaign group the Christian Legal Centre, which supported the family in their campaign to keep the young boy alive, said the service would take place at St Mary's Church in Prittlewell, Southend.

His mum Hollie Dance found Archie unconscious at the family home on April 7 - he suffered brain damage and the 12-year-old remained on life support for four months. But Ms Dance and Archie's dad Paul were unsuccessful in their fight against doctors who called for the life support to be withdrawn, reports Mirror Online.

Judges ultimately sided with the NHS and Ms Dance confirmed her son had died on August 6. Ms Dance has called for a public inquiry into her son's case.

Read more: Mum's anger as 10-year-old 'struggling to speak' following Nottingham park accident

She said that, while Archie's story has had a lot of publicity, many similar cases in the High Court's Family division don't due to reporting restrictions and that they are kept away from public scrutiny.

"There should be a comprehensive public inquiry into the operation of this system; and then a change of the law to protect the grieving families from cruelty," she added. Describing her final moments with her son, Ms Dance said: "The morning Archie died, I told him how much I loved him.

“At midday they took his pipe out. It took 15 minutes for his heart to stop. There was nothing ‘dignified’ about his death. It was heartbreaking, watching your child suffocate. That image will never, ever leave me.”

A judge based in the Family Division of the High Court in London ruled in July that doctors could lawfully stop providing life support to young Archie.

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