Hunger striker Barry Horne greets his supporters from a York District Hospital window - despite claims he could slip into a coma at any time.

Barry Horne

Horne was helped from his bed to a third-floor window where he waved to an animal rights vigil gathered outside, according to the Animals Betrayed Coalition.

Friends then supported him as he returned to bed.

Horne, 46, is reported to be in his 58th day of hunger striking.

Supporters say he could slip in to a coma very soon and die within two days of that happening.

A Coalition spokesman said: "He is strong enough to be able to greet his supporters, but everything is an effort to him.

"We have started to prepare for his funeral and everybody is extremely concerned about his health."

A hunger strike expert from the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture today said: "In hunger strikes I have seen before, by this time it would be quite a shaky stage and be able to stand up and wave on your own energy might suggest you were eating a little bit.

"But it is fairly unlikely that Horne is being fraudulent. Nothing is impossible medically."

The Prison Service said today that the prisoner was in a serious, but stable, condition.

A spokesman declined to comment further about his condition, but said: "I can confirm that he has been refusing food since October 6. He has been taking some fluids."

The Evening Press reported at the weekend that Horne had been drinking tea with sugar, but the Prison Service would not confirm whether he continued to do so.

Yesterday, the Evening Press reported that an extreme branch of the animal rights movement had published a hit list of ten people who, they said, would be killed if Horne dies.

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