EAST Lancashire cancer victim, nine-year-old Tim Davies was killed in hospital - by bacteria in contaminated feeding tubes.

It was a lethal error for which someone was responsible.

The Department of Health prosecuted the health trust running the Manchester Hospital where the tragedy occurred.

But the case was thrown out because the trust in charge at the time of Tim's death had been abolished and replaced by another with a different name by the time the charges were brought.

The judge ruled that criminal charges could not be transferred from one defendant to another.

This was a technicality that left the responsibility for Tim's death in a legal limbo.

It denied his parents the right to seek justice and left the truth untold.

That was unfair and unsatisfactory. To resolve that, the Department of Health should have appealed.

Now, they are not to. They have decided to accept this disturbing judgment.

In doing so, they are not just denying Tim's parents the opportunity of justice, but creating an injustice - no matter what the law may say.

For if someone was to blame, they have been allowed to get away with it, have they not?

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