Kings: ‘We were treated like terrorists’

As Ashya King’s parents were reunited with their son in a Spanish hospital yesterday after being released from prison on Tuesday, they claimed they had been treated like terrorists.

Brett and Naghemeh King took the five-year-old abroad against the advice of doctors at Southampton General Hospital in Britain where he was being treated for a brain tumour.

Mr King said he and his wife had “only acted in their son’s best interests”.

The couple saw their child in hospital yesterday for the first time since they were arrested on Saturday. But it was reported they would not be permitted to remove him from hospital.

A spokeswoman for the Materno-Infantil hospital in Malaga, where Ashya is being treated, said local authorities had received notification from British officials that the parents should not be allowed to take the boy away. It was not clear which UK authority she was referring to.

The reunion initially appeared to be in doubt when Mr King claimed he would be barred from visiting the child after he was made a ward of court, but it was established that those proceedings do not stop the couple seeing him.

Ashya was temporarily made a ward of court last week. But at a hearing in the High Court on Tuesday, Mr Justice Baker expressed concerns that the child was separated from his parents and said there were no objections to the couple seeing their son.

Speaking about the reunion with his son, Mr King said: “He was so pleased to see us. We’re trying to be hopeful. Tomorrow I meet with the cancer specialist.”

The Judicial Office said no decision about Ashya’s future can be taken without the court’s approval.

A spokesman said: “At the hearing, the judge adjourned the case until Monday to allow the parents an opportunity to be represented and put forward their proposals for Ashya’s treatment.

“If there is a dispute between the parents and the medical authorities as to the right course of treatment, the court will make the decision, probably at the hearing on Monday.

“If the parties are in agreement, the court will endorse that agreement, and the judge indicated in court that he will be available at all times to give his approval if an agreement is reached before Monday so that treatment can be started without further delay.”

Earlier the couple spoke in public about their ordeal for the first time since they were freed from Soto del Real prison on Tuesday night. They were released after British authorities abandoned their attempts to extradite them amid a public backlash.

Mrs King said she had been “crying and crying” as she described the torment of being unable to help her son from the jail cell near Madrid where she and her husband have been detained since Saturday.

She told the BBC: “What could I do in a prison cell? I was just praying so I could be reunited with him again. All I could do was just cry and pray.”

Mr King said his heart was “aching” to see Ashya again. They were expected to stay the night at the hospital last night so they could be near their son.

Mr King claimed he had previously informed the hospital about his plans to seek proton therapy for his son but kept the date he intended to take him secret for fear he would be stopped.

He said: “I said to them ‘I’m going. The NHS is not going to pay, I’ve got to sort this out for my son’.”

Dr Peter Wilson, chief paediatrician, speaking outside Southampton General Hospital, told Sky News the family had made it clear that they would like to take Ashya to Prague but that the hospital had no idea the family had planned to leave.

He said the family were not keen on parts of the treatment which had been suggested and that there were discussions about different forms of treatment.

Earlier, the Proton Therapy Centre in the Czech Republic claimed it had been sent Ashya’s medical records and believed the technique was suitable for him.

A fundraising page set up to help pay for the treatment has so far raised more than £21,000 (€26,300) while Charity Kids ‘n’ Cancer UK said it will pay the £100,000 for Ashya’s treatment, plus living costs, after donors pledged £35,000 in 24 hours.