Opinion: Charlie Gard's parents should have their wishes respected about their son's final days, says Rachel Moore

Nearly a year ago, Connie Yates and Chris Gard took their perfect new-born son home from hospital.

They had just a few weeks of the elation, hopes and excitement of first-time parents before things started to go seriously wrong and baby Charlie was diagnosed with a terminal condition.

This week they will watch him die.

The couple have mustered superhuman strength to fight for their rights as parents and do what they felt was best for their son, all of it at the centre of an international media circus.

They have stood in court as their right to decide what is best for their little boy was taken from them.

A couple broken by grief at what nature has done to their beautiful baby, begging science and medicine to do what it can to help, has been heart-wrenching to witness

Allowing them to take their little boy home to die in their own home, the three of them together, is the only right and humane ending to this tragic story. He is their baby. They all deserve privacy.

A hospice was considered the best option by the court. Best for who? Not Charlie, not his parents.

They were desperate to do right by Charlie. The least they should be allowed is to lay him in his cot in his home surrounded by love, peace, tranqulity and reflection – and honour the promise they made him.

This final chapter is about unique parental love, not the law.