A property developer has offered to pay the £10,000 it will cost to send a terminally ill girl for life-saving treatment in America.

Yesterday The Argus told of the plight of five-year-old Sacha Skinner whose parents are trying to raise funds for her to receive an experimental treatment.

She is suffering from Batten Disease, a rare condition which attacks both the mind and body and means she is unlikely to live beyond the age of 12.

Her only hope lies in a gene replacement therapy being developed by scientists at Cornell University in New York.

Duncan Weatherstone, of the Weatherstone Property Group in Hove, was so moved by the story he offered to pay for the trip if Sacha passes tests that will show whether the treatment would work on her.

He said that as the father of a five-year-old boy he could sympathise with Sacha's mother Annette Dacosta.

He said: "If it helps the little girl and takes pressure off her mother, then that's fantastic.

"I just think about what they're going through. What the mother is going through must be horrendous.

"We do a lot for charity and have done for many years, especially for kids. We've supported Brighton and Hove Albion's team for four years."

Mr Weatherstone has also helped St Barnabus Church in Hove and the St Dunstan's home for blinded service men and women at Ovingdean.

Sacha's mother, from Brighton, said: "It is extremely generous and I am flabbergasted."

She is due to hear test results on Friday, which will tell her whether Sacha is eligible for gene replacement therapy.

She said: "If we are not accepted I don't know what we will do. We will have to keep looking around the world for another treatment."

The gene replacement therapy at Cornell University has halted the disease in several children.

Sacha has already lost much of her vocabulary but scientists say because she is younger than most children treated at Cornell so far, she is a strong candidate for therapy.