Archie Battersbee: what Holly Willoughby said on This Morning about case, and when is high court ruling due?

This Morning presenter Holly Willoughby fought back tears as she interviewed the mum of a 12-year-old boy at the centre of a life support dispute.

Hollie Dance, the mum of Archie Battersbee was being interviewed on the show by hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby about the fight to keep his treatment going.

Doctors treating Archie at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, think the youngster is “brain-stem dead”.

They say life-support treatment should end and the youngster should be disconnected from a ventilator.

Archie’s parents, Ms Dance and Paul Battersbee, from Southend, Essex, say the youngster’s heart is still beating and want treatment to continue.

What was said on This Morning?

Ms Dance found her son unconscious with a ligature over his head on 7 April and thinks he might have been taking part in an online challenge.

Speaking on the show she said: “First of all I thought he was just standing there but then I realised he had something tied around his neck so I ran over to him and tried to get it off, it had cut off his windpipe,” Hollie explained.

While she was recounting what happened Holly Willoughby could be seen trying to compose herself.

Ms Dance went on to say: “I just think if I don’t explore every avenue and if I don’t fight for his life and then later on we realise, ‘well actually we didn’t look into that’, I’m gonna spend the rest of my life not knowing and thinking, ‘what if, what if?’

“And I’m going with my gut, a mother’s gut instinct, I think you should really go with it,” she added.

Holly then told her: “There isn’t a parent on this planet who wouldn’t be doing what you are doing now.”

What’s happening with the legal case?

Lawyers representing the Royal London Hospital’s governing trust, Barts Health NHS Trust, have asked Mrs Justice Arbuthnot to decide what moves are in Archie’s best interests.

Mrs Justice Arbuthnot on Wednesday finished overseeing a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

The judge heard that Archie suffered brain damage in an incident at home in early April.

The youngster has not regained consciousness.

Lawyers representing Archie’s family have told the judge that his heart is still beating.

They also say there was an issue as to whether “the correct procedure” had been followed, and whether the “family’s views” had been taken into account.

The ruling is expected on Monday.

A campaign organisation called the Christian Legal Centre is supporting Archie’s family.