Twins' parents tell story on TV

The heartbreaking moment when the Shropshire parents of conjoined twins Hope and Faith thought their babies would survive will be shown during a television documentary tonight.

The programme follows Aled Williams and his wife Laura, 18, of Harlescott, Shrewsbury – the UK's youngest mother of conjoined twins – as they spend time with their daughters, born on November 26 last year.

They are then shown having to make the tragic decision to stop resuscitating baby Hope after the operation to separate her from her sister.

Aled, 28, a former binman for Veolia, told the programme: "I think I made the hardest decision of my life to tell them to stop resuscitating her and let her go peacefully.

"That more than anything was just, you know, really hard, because she's my daughter at the end of the day and it was better off that she was peaceful."

The documentary will also show the young couple taking care of their babies and changing their nappies.

Before the operation to separate the twins took place, Aled tells the programme: "I don't think they'll die through this. I reckon they'll come out of it fighting like they always have."

He also tries to reassure his wife, saying the girls will pull through.

The documentary reveals a conversation between Laura and Aled after the operation. Aled said: "One's coming up in an hour and she doesn't know about the other one yet but she says obviously she must be fine otherwise they would have said something."

After Hope's death, the programme focuses on the couple's fight to keep Faith alive.

Laura tells the programme she and Aled will be at the hospital until Faith is ready to go home.

Aled talks of his hope for her future describing how he wants her to have a "normal" life and "go to college and university".

But Faith died of progressive organ failure on Christmas Day at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital.

• Cutting Edge – Britain’s Conjoined Twins: Hope and Faith will be shown on Channel 4 at 9pm tonight.

By Rebecca Lawrence