'Locked-in' man Tony Nicklinson sends first tweet

A man with "locked-in syndrome" who is fighting for the right to die has tweeted for the first time.

Tony Nicklinson, from Melksham, in Wiltshire, became paralysed from the neck down following a stroke in 2005.

He used special eye movement technology to access the website writing: "Hello world. I am tony nicklinson, I have locked-in syndrome and this is my first ever tweet. #tony."

He had almost 2,500 followers in less than 24 hours on the site.

Mr Nicklinson communicates by using a computer that follows his eye movements.

Software converts his eye movement into the letters of the alphabet and in turn into words and speech.

Image caption, Mr Nicklinson communicates by using a computer that follows his eye movements

Channel 4's Dispatches programme captured his first tweet ahead of a programme about Mr Nicklinson's life which is due to air at 20:00 BST on Monday.

On Monday, Mr Nicklinson and his family are due to go to the High Court to argue that a doctor should be allowed lawfully to end his life.

The father of two grown-up daughters described his life since the paralysis as "dull, miserable, demeaning, undignified and intolerable".

He is asking the High Court to grant declarations that a doctor could intervene to end his "indignity", with his consent and with him making the decision with full mental capacity, and have a "common law defence of necessity" against any murder charge.