A CHILDREN'S cancer research charity has made an emotional eleventh hour plea to the people of Southampton to back a campaign to keep their crucial life-saving work going.

Leukaemia Busters' honorary director Dr David Flavell yesterday asked the city's ancient Court Leet to help raise public awareness for their campaign to save vital clinical trials under threat from a new European Directive.

Court Leet is a historic ceremony dating back to before 1066 which provides an opportunity for any citizen to make representations about matters of local concern in front of a jury comprising city councillors, honorary aldermen, past mayors and sheriffs.

Southampton was one of the few cities able to keep its Court Leet when they were generally abolished in 1972 and it is held each year.

The plea - known as a presentment - to help keep the children's charity afloat was put to the jury and Sheriff of Southampton, Harry Mitchell, foreman of the jury, at the council chamber in the civic centre.

Southampton-based Leukaemia Busters conducts research into and develops new treatments for the disease.

But new European regulations soon to be incorporated into UK law will not exempt them from regulations that apply to commercial clinical trials.

This will have huge cost implications on charities and institutions that are non-profit making groups as they will be unable to perform at the same level as multinational pharmaceutical companies.

The Save Our Clinical Trials campaign has been set up by Leukaemia Busters to petition for the directive to be changed and account for the needs of non-profit making clinical trials.

More than 1,000 signatures have been collected in the petition so far.

But Dr Flavell told Councillor Mitchell that more people needed to join the campaign to keep Leukaemia Busters running. He asked the council to place the petition in public places in the most effective way to get people to pledge their support.

The presentment was accepted.

To support the Save Our Clinincal Trials campaign visit www.leukaemiabusters.org.uk/SOCTCampaign.htm.