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Ashya King and parents reunited amid chaotic scenes at Málaga hospital
Ashya King and parents reunited amid chaotic scenes at Málaga hospital
(about 2 hours later)
The parents of five-year-old Ashya King have been reunited with their desperately ill son, arriving at his hospital bed after 72 hours in a Spanish jail.
The parents of five-year-old Ashya King have been reunited with their desperately ill son, arriving at his hospital bedside amid a media circus after they were released from a Spanish jail.
Brett and Naghmeh King spent precious time with their son, who has a brain tumour, after driving across Spain overnight following their release from a prison in Madrid.
Brett and Naghmeh King spent several precious hours with their son, who has cancer, after driving across Spain overnight following their release from prison in Madrid, where they were held in separate cells for the previous 72 hours.
Arriving at the children's hospital in Málaga amid chaotic scenes, Ashya's father, 51, said he was prepared to be arrested to see his son and expressed exasperation that the boy still remains legally in the custody of British authorities. Prosecutors in the UK have dropped their arrest warrant but Ashya remains a ward of court.
Arriving at the children's hospital in Malaga amid chaotic scenes, Ashya's father Brett said he was prepared to be arrested to see his son and expressed exasperation that the brain tumour patient remained in the custody of British authorities.
"What the prime minister of England and the health minister said hasn't worked because me and my wife don't have custody," he said. Mr King said he could be held for seeing his son. Asked what his next plan was, he said: "To be arrested."
Prosecutors in the UK have dropped their arrest warrant but Ashya remains a ward of court.
Moments after the couple and their eldest son, Danny, were bundled inside the hospital by Spanish police, officials confirmed that the parents were at their son's bedside along with the British consulate and a delegate from the local health department.
"What the prime minister of England and the health minister said hasn't worked because me and my wife don't have custody," Mr King said. Asked what his next plan was, he said: "To be arrested".
The parents are now braced for a further agonising wait over their son's future. The high court in London is expected to hold an emergency hearing to find out the treatment plan the Kings have in place for Ashya, before a judge decides whether the child should be formally returned to their custody.
The couple, from Southsea, Portsmouth, arrived in Malaga after a whirlwind 24 hours in which David Cameron and politicians of all sides took up their case and prosecutors terminated their European arrest warrant.
The chaotic scenes outside the hospital, in which journalists were thrown into the road by police in the scramble to photograph the Kings, were mirrored at an earlier press conference held by the parents at their lawyer's office in Seville.
The rare legal reversal left the pair free to walk out of So To del Real prison in Madrid and begin a long journey across Spain to see their son, who had been under the guard of armed police in Malaga's Materno Infantil.
Mr King said he would happily spend years in jail to stop the NHS treating Ashya, claiming its doctors were "going to kill him or turn him into a vegetable". He told how he and his wife, 45, had been hunted across Europe "like terrorists" and that, in prison, the pair were kept in separate cells close enough that he could hear her weeping at night.
They arrived at the hospital to a scrum of cameras, with five armed riot police officers throwing photographers and cameramen into the road to try clear a path for the family. Some journalists had been camped outside the hospital since last Thursday, forming small groups around the entrance as poorly children came and went.
Earlier, Ashya's parents claimed they told the UK hospital where he was being treated that they were going to take him abroad.
In the chaos, Brett claimed he was unable to see his son because Portsmouth council had yesterday served him with legal papers that made Ashya a ward of court. However, it later became clear that the family was free to see Ashya but they could not remove him from the hospital due to a previous court order.
They said they feared that treatment advocated by doctors at Southampton General hospital would "kill him or turn him into a vegetable".
The parents are now braced for a further agonising wait over their son's future. Ashya is a ward of court, which means the high court exercises parental responsibility. The legal papers relating to that order were served on the Kings while they were still in custody in a Spanish jail at around 3pm on Tuesday. It means that any major decisions about Ashya's treatment or his movements have to be approved by the family court in London.
As they left Seville, the Kings spoke of their bewilderment that Hampshire police had sought an international arrest warrant.
Last night, an official confirmed that Ashya is likely to remain in hospital for a few days yet.
"They treated us like terrorists. They handcuffed me and my wife," Mr King said. "I don't know why they did this. From the beginning, Southampton [General hospital] knew I was going abroad. They knew I wasn't happy with the treatment.
A hearing on the wardship proceedings was held before Mr Justice Baker at the High Court on Tuesday and adjourned until Monday. At present, the order remains in place even though the European Arrest Warrant has been withdrawn and extradition proceedings dropped.
"They knew about it. Not the day I left, but I told them: 'I'm leaving because I'm not happy.' They knew that."
The frenzied scenes outside hospital were mirrored at a press conference at the King's lawyer's office in Seville. Packed into a tiny room with camera lenses right in his face, Brett said he would happily spend years in jail to stop the NHS treating Ashya because its doctors were "going to kill him or turn him into a vegetable". He told how he and his wife had been hunted across Europe "like terrorists" and that, in prison, the pair were kept in separate cells close enough that he could hear her weeping at night.
In an earlier interview with the BBC, Mr King said: "I told the doctor: 'I'm paying for it myself but I haven't got the money, I need to sell my house.' I said to them: 'I'm going. The NHS is not going to pay, I've got to sort this out for my son.'"
There was also further dispute between the Kings and Southampton hospital.
"I couldn't actually tell them the day because they had threatened me previously," he said.
Mr King claimed he had told doctors they were going to take Ashya abroad and that the hospital had threatened to get a court order to say it had rights over the youngster's treatment. However, hours later, the hospital's Dr Peter Wilson said he "absolutely disagreed" with that assertion, saying the Kings never said they wanted to take Ashya to Prague for treatment.
"When I just asked: 'What is cancer? How did my son get it? Is there any alternative?', straight away they said if I ask any more questions the right for me to make a decision would be taken away from me because they [will] get an immediate court paper to say that they have [a] right over my child.
Speaking about the 48-hour European-wide hunt for the pair, Brett said: "They treated us like terrorists. They handcuffed me and my wife. I don't know why they did this. From the beginning, Southampton [General hospital] knew I was going abroad. They knew I wasn't happy with the treatment. "They knew about it. Not the day I left, but I told them: 'I'm leaving because I'm not happy.' They knew that."
"So from that moment, I had so much fear to mention anything to them because they could have stopped my son getting any treatment and just forcing this very strong treatment on him.
He said of the moment the couple were arrested: "When I saw there were police outside, we panicked, we didn't know what to do so we went towards Málaga because my wife said there was a good hospital.
"From that moment on, I had to keep everything quiet."
"My children were at the swimming pool, we were just trying to enjoy ourselves as a family. Then someone said to us that someone has called the police. I said: 'OK, we are not going to run any more. This is it, we are going to face this because I don't know why they are after us.' I told them we are taking my son out. I said: 'We will stay here and sort this out,' but then they arrested me."
He said of the moment the couple were arrested: "When I saw there were police outside, we panicked, we didn't know what to do so we just went towards Málaga because my wife said there was a good hospital.
"My children were at the swimming pool, we were just trying to enjoy ourselves as a family.
"Then someone said to us that someone has called the police. I said: 'OK, we are not going to run any more. This is it, we are going to face this because I don't know why they are after us.' I told them we are taking my son out. I said: 'We will stay here and sort this out,' but then they arrested me."
A European arrest warrant was issued after the couple took Ashya from the hospital on Thursday and travelled with him and his six siblings to Spain, where the parents were arrested on Saturday night.
The family, who used to live in the Marbella area before moving to Southsea, Portsmouth, wanted to sell their Spanish property to raise money to pay for proton beam treatment, a form of radiotherapy not available in the UK, which they strongly believed would help Ashya.
The family, who used to live in the Marbella area before moving to Southsea, Portsmouth, wanted to sell their Spanish property to raise money to pay for proton beam treatment, a form of radiotherapy not available in the UK, which they strongly believed would help Ashya.
They were released from a Spanish jail on Tuesday night after the arrest warrant was withdrawn and extradition proceedings dropped.
Ashya's mother, Naghmeh, stayed the night by her son's bedside while her husband Brett and their eldest son Danny left when visiting hours ended at 8pm.
Clearly emotional, Mr King said after being freed: "I would be happy to spend years in prison rather than my son be given treatment that is going to kill or disable him for the rest of his life.
Leaning out of the car window, Brett said his son was "so happy he couldn't breathe" when he saw his parents. "We're trying to be hopeful," he said. "He's good (but) not in such a good state as when we left him, his spirit is depressed.
"I don't want to say I am angry. I just want to say I regret that this has happened. I hope no other parent has to go through this rubbish trying to help their child."
He told Sky News: "We have been robbed of seeing his face. My son is worth everything, worth me going to prison, worth everything because they were going to kill him in England or turn him into a vegetable."
He had no idea of the outcry over the case, and the pressure to release the couple, because he and his wife had been held in separate cells with no access to television. They also were unable to speak to anyone. "I don't really know what is going on," he said.
Earlier, at a chaotic press conference, he revealed he had asked to be moved to another cell at Soto del Real prison near Madrid, because he could hear his wife crying and could not bear it.
"I asked to move cells because I was worrying and I couldn't listen to my wife. When you are locked up, you can't do anything and I was wanting to help my wife, my children."
There was not a moment in custody "that went by without our hearts hurting to see Ashya", he said.
"Being locked up, you can't do anything, you can't help your son, you can't help your wife. You don't know the future, what's going to happen to Ashya without us.
"We didn't know what was happening because they arrested us and directly they took my son away; they say he is not allowed any visitors. We said: 'You don't even know what is wrong with him. He needs therapy on his legs, on his arms, you need to move him from side to side.'"
"They said they are not interested. They just want to take him away from us."
He added: "Hopefully now I can see our son. We can be together. We can show love to him because without that there is no purpose to life.
"We just want to help my son get through this bad time because he hasn't got too many months to live."
Earlier, Naghmeh told the BBC: "All I was doing all the time was crying and crying. What could I do in a prison cell?"
Doctors in Southampton have said proton beam therapy is unlikely to provide any benefit over standard radiotherapy, but told the high court at a hearing in London on Tuesday that they would not object to Ashya travelling to Prague for such treatment provided a treatment plan was agreed with the parents.
Responding to the Kings' allegations they had warned doctors of their plans to go abroad, the hospital said there had been a disagreement over treatment, but at no time did the couple say they wanted to go to Prague. Dr Peter Wilson told Sky News when Ashya went missing, staff were "surprised, then worried" and did what any doctors would have done in the situation – they contacted the police. Wilson said he "absolutely disagreed" with Mr King's assertion that the hospital threatened to get a court order to say it had rights over Ashya and his treatment.
David Cameron told MPs that decisions taken in Aysha's case were "not correct". Speaking at prime minister's questions, he said: "To be fair to the authorities involved in the case of Aysha King, they all want to do the best for the child. That's what they are thinking of.
"But I think what happened was that decisions were taken that weren't correct and didn't chime with a sense of common sense. That, fortunately, has been put right.
"What all of us in public life and public offices have to do is examine what the legal requirements are, but also make a judgment, and those judgments can sometimes be all-important."
A spokesman for the Proton Therapy Centre (PTC) in the Czech Republic said it had received additional information concerning the status of Ashya's health.
He said Dr Gary Nicolin, a consultant paediatric oncologist and lead for paediatric neurooncology at University Hospital Southampton, had sent complete medical reports, including operation notes, histology reports and imaging reports. He said the PTC medical board reviewed the documentation at 8am on Wednesday.
Dr Jiri Kubes, head of proton therapy at PTC, said: "We have agreed that proton therapy is a suitable method of treatment for Ashya. So, Ashya shall go for proton therapy to the Czech Republic. However, prior to this he will need to return to England."
The centre said Nicolin had confirmed that Ashya must first undergo two cycles of chemotherapy, which are expected to take several weeks. After that he would be able to travel to Prague for proton therapy, the spokesman said.
The CPS has dropped all proceedings against the Kings, who had been arrested on suspicion of neglect.
The couple's other children, aged three to 23, remained in Málaga while their parents were imprisoned in Madrid.
The Kings have launched a fundraising campaign to meet the costs of medical treatment.
Southampton University hospital trust has said that the chances of surviving the condition that Ashya has are about 70%-80% after five years with appropriate treatment.
