Natallie Evans, the Wiltshire woman fighting to save her frozen embryos from destruction and use them to have children, has won the right to take her case to the Court of Appeal.

High Court judge Mr Justice Wall said in October last year that he had 'considerable sympathy' for Ms Evans, 32, and Lorraine Hadley, 38, but the laws governing IVF treatment were clear - once their former partners had withdrawn consent for them to be used, the embryos must be destroyed.

Mrs Hadley decided not to take the case any further but Ms Evans, for whom the embryos were her last chance of having children because her ovaries, which contained pre-cancerous cells, have been removed, today applied to the appeal court.

Lord Justice Thorpse, giving permission for a full appeal which will be scheduled to last one-and-a-half days, said the case was not only of 'very great interest' to Ms Evans, from Trowbridge, Wilts, but there were points of general public concern.

He told Robin Tolson QC, representing Ms Evans: 'Your client should not attach too high a hope as to the ultimate outcome.'

After the hearing, Muiris Lyons, Ms Evans's solicitor, said: 'Natallie is delighted and relieved that her fight to save her embryos is not over. She has never given up hope.

'She now has the opportunity of a full appeal and is confident that the Court of Appeal will accept that she should be allowed to use her embryos to try for the baby that she has always wanted.'

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