Bone-op baby 'no'.

A COUPLE were last night devastated after being banned from creating a "designer baby" to help save their sick son.

Michelle and Jayson Whitaker had asked the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to approve a licence allowing doctors to use a "tissue-typing" IVF technique, providing a brother or sister with a perfect tissue match.

It would have allowed Charlie, three, who suffers from a rare blood disorder, to have a potentially life-saving bone marrow transplant.

But the HFEA said it could not approve the procedure as it would be unlawful and unethical.

A spokeswoman said: "There was enormous sympathy for the case."

Mr Whitaker, of Bicester, Oxon, said: "I don't think they understand his suffering."