Heartbroken father of tragic baby Indi tells how her sisters kissed her goodbye before she died after High Court refused her permission to be transferred to Rome for ‘specialist treatment’

•  Eight-month-old Indi passed away earlier this month following a court battle
•  Judges who ruled it was in her ‘best interests’ to die but her parents disagreed

Baby Indi Gregory’s heartbroken father has revealed how his daughters kissed their sibling a tearful goodbye just hours before she died.

Eight-month-old Indi passed away earlier this month following a lengthy court battle between her parents Dean and Claire Staniforth, and judges who ruled it was in her ‘best interests’ to die.

The couple had wanted to move their daughter to the specialist Bambino Gesu children’s hospital in Rome for treatment, after she was granted Italian citizenship in a special decree by PM Giorgia Meloni.

But the request was overruled and instead Indi – who suffered from mitochondrial disease – was moved from the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham, to a hospice in Loughborough, Leicestershire, where she died last Monday.

Her breathing tube was removed, and she slipped away in Claire’s arms at 1.45am, just a few hours after sisters Liv, 19, Olivia, 13, and Vienna, six, had said their final farewells.

Baby Indi Gregory’s heartbroken father has revealed how his daughters kissed their sibling a tearful goodbye just hours before she died

Eight-month-old Indi passed away earlier this month following a court battle between her parents Dean and Claire Staniforth, and judges who ruled it was in her ‘best interests’ to die

The couple had wanted to move their daughter to the specialist Bambino Gesu children’s hospital in Rome for treatment, after she was granted Italian citizenship in a special decree

Dean, 37, told MailOnline: ‘We were able to be with her right up until the end and we were able to hold her, and her sisters got a chance to kiss her goodbye which as a father was heartbreaking to watch.

‘They kissed her and hugged her goodbye at about 10pm and they lay with her for a bit but then went to bed and Indi died a few hours later.

READ MORE – Race to find a cure for heartbreaking disease which slowly killed baby Indi Gregory

‘All of them were crying their eyes out and I couldn’t’ watch it, it tore me apart.’

Dean, from Ilkeston, Derbyshire, said the ultimate aim had always been to take Indi to Rome, for a stent operation in her heart but doctors and the Court of Appeal ruled against it.

Three days before she died Matteo Corradini, the Italian consulate in Manchester who acted for her legally fired off a letter to the High Court asking for an emergency hearing but didn’t hear back until it was too late.

Dean said: ‘The way were treated by the NHS and the courts was terrible, they just didn’t seem to be taking our feelings as parents into consideration at all, surely we should have had more of her say as her mum and dad?

Her breathing tube was removed, and she slipped away in Claire’s arms at 1.45am, just a few hours after sisters Liv, 19, Olivia, 13, and Vienna, six, had said their final farewells

Dean, 37, told MailOnline: ‘We were able to be with her right up until the end and we were able to hold her, and her sisters got a chance to kiss her goodbye

Pictured: Baby Indi Gregory with her mother Claire Staniford

‘The judge who Matteo wrote to didn’t even bother to reply until after Indi had died and the tone of the letter wasn’t appreciated by our legal team, they said it was flippant, as he wrote he assumed we didn’t want to progress as Indi had died.’

Dean went on: ‘They (NHS and Courts) wouldn’t even let us take her home to die, they said it had to be in a hospice or the hospital but in the end, she travelled further to the hospice from Nottingham than our home. What was the point?

READ MORE – Indi Gregory loses her fight for life: ‘Angry and heartbroken’ parents who fought to continue treatment for the terminally-ill eight-month-old say she has passed away

‘We just didn’t want to be there and when they took the ventilator out, the feeding tubes came out at the same time they ripped them off at the same time and when they put them back in we didn’t know if they were in the right spot.

‘The last 24 hours as result were a nightmare because she kept tensing and stretching her stomach and you could see she was in agony but before that she had been OK, it was awful to see, a nightmare, really traumatising.’

He added: ‘We got told the hospice was the best pace for the type of care but the staff weren’t helpful..

‘We just wish we could have got her home but I think they were scared we would jump on a plane and take her to Italy.

‘To be honest that was a dream, to take her to Italy or if not go home, we just didn’t want her to pass away in hospital and if we couldn’t get to Rome, we wanted her to die at home, to at least spend some time at home as she was in hospital the whole time.

Indi was granted Italian citizenship by PM Giorgia Meloni so she could be moved to Rome

‘The relationship with the hospital just broke down in the last few weeks and that’s why we should have been allowed to take Indi home and more consideration should have been given to us as her parents.’

Relieving her final hours Dean said: ‘You could see her struggling to breathe and Claire was holding her as she died.

‘The last eight months have been a roller coaster, Indi was having seizures one minute and then the next so was smiling and baby babbling.

‘Then she caught various bugs and infections in the hospital as well, and I complained that the ward wasn’t clean enough.

‘The hospital said they would look into it but we never heard anything back for ages and then they said she was getting ill because of her condition.’

READ MORE – Parents of Indi Gregory tell how their terminally ill daughter was in ‘excruciating pain’ before she died

Messages of support flooded in from Italy after Indi was made a citizen and Pope Francis who described Indi as a ‘innocent fragile human being, who in her silence asked for only love, a relationship and care’.

While PM Meloni said: ‘Little Indi Gregory is no longer with us, news we never wanted to read. The Italian government made the most of her, offering to treat her in our country, unfortunately without success.

‘A touching prayer for you and a sincere hug to her parents.’

Dean revealed the funeral is planned for December 1 at the St Barnabas Cathedral in Nottingham, led by bishop Patrick McKinney and her hearse will be carried in a horse drawn carriage.

He said: ‘It will be a religious ceremony and we will say goodbye to her in as lovely way as we can.

‘The Italian government will be sending a high-level delegation and have offered to pay for the funeral as well.’

Dean added: ‘All the time I was in court fighting I just wanted to be with Indi. We had some good times though, when the tubes were out she was bouncing in the swing and on the bean bag.

‘That’s and her personality was really coming out, that’s’ when we got our hopes up she would come home sadly it didn’t happen, although we still have those wonderful memories.’

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