First Minister's public apology for Robbie Powell's death

The First Minister has made a public apology about the circumstances surrounding the medical treatment of a little boy who died more than twenty years ago.

The parents of ten-year-old Robbie Powell from Ystradgynlais have always maintained that there was a cover-up.

Robbie died of Addison's disease - a hormonal condition - in 1990, after a test which may have diagnosed the rare but treatable disease was not carried out.

An inquest into his death in February 2004 returned a verdict of death by natural causes aggravated by neglect.

Robbie was seen by five separate GPs on seven different occasions in the weeks proceeding his death. His father, William Powell, believes that his medical records were falsified to cover up mistakes made by doctors, and that a subsequent police investigation was also flawed.

For over twenty years, William Powell has been campaigning for a public inquiry into what went wrong.