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Judge Greer then formally rejected Governor Bush's custody request yesterday. Last night he refused to hold a new hearing to assess Dr Cheshire's claims.

He also ordered the local sheriff's department not to allow state officials into Mrs Schiavo's hospice - but, under Florida law, the governor has the power, without court clearance, of taking a citizen into custody for a 24-hour appraisal if it is suspected they are in jeopardy.

David Cardwell, an expert on Florida law, told The Times: "If the governor takes this step, the sheriff must decide whether to step aside, or follow the order of the courts. I wouldn't want to be the sheriff of Pinellas County right now."

Meanwhile in the Florida federal court last night, David Gibbs III argued for the Schindlers that Mrs Schiavo's rights to life and privacy were being violated. Judge Whittemore interrupted as Mr Gibbs attempted to liken Schiavo's death to a murder.

"That is the emotional rhetoric of this case. It does not influence this court, and cannot influence this court. I want you to know it and I want the public to know it," Whittemore said.

The area around the federal courthouse was evacuated during the hearing after a suspicious backpack was found outside. The package was safely detonated using a remote device and the hearing continued.

Soon after a man was arrested after he went to a gun store in Seminole and threatened its owner with a box cutter while demanding a weapon to "rescue" Terri Schiavo, the Pinellas County sheriff's office said.

The new appeal to Judge Whittemore came after the US Supreme Court yesterday turned down the Schindlers appeal to intervene to keep Mrs Schiavo alive.

For the past seven years Florida state judges have consistently sided with Mrs Schiavo's husband and legal guardian, Michael, who now has two children with a new partner of ten years. He says that his wife left no will and would not have wanted to be kept alive by means of a feeding tube to the stomach. Despite her parents' emotional appeals, a series of federal courts in recent days, culminating with the Supreme Court yesterday, have refused to intervene.

A lawyer for Michael Schiavo said he hoped the woman's parents and the governor would finally give up their fight. "We believe it's time for that to stop as we approach this Easter weekend and that Mrs. Schiavo be able to die in peace," attorney George Felos said.

Governor Bush has intervened in the Schiavo case before. After her tube was removed in April 2003 he persuaded the state legislature to pass an emergency "Terri's law", authorising him to order its reinsertion, six days after it had been disconnected.

On Wednesday night he failed, by three votes in the Florida state senate, to pass a law that would prevent the removal of feeding tubes from vegetative patients who did not leave wills.

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