'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.

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.