Ashya gets ‘all-clear’ but parents say they’re afraid to come home
Family worried children will be taken into care
ASHYA King’s parents are in ‘exile’ in Spain because they fear their children will be taken into care if they return to the UK, his grandmother said last night.
To the family’s great joy the five-year- old had been declared cancer-free following pioneering treatment.
But, says the boy’s grandmother, the Kings are now ‘ desperate’ to return home.
Ashya was diagnosed with a brain tumour last year. This was removed and doctors insisted that surgery was followed up by traditional chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
But his parents Brett, 51, and Naghmeh, 46, wanted him to have cutting-edge proton beam therapy instead which is thought to be less harmful. Fearing that Ashya would be taken away from them and given the treatment, the family fled to Spain, where they had a holiday home, prompting an international manhunt.
The parents were arrested in Spain and held in prison while Ashya was made a ward of court by Portsmouth council before a national outcry led to their release.
Reunited, the family flew to Prague, where the boy had proton beam therapy. Last week, the family was told that he is now cancer-free.
Ashya’s grandmother said last night that her son and his wife felt like ‘exiles’ in Spain but were powerless to return home for fear of their children being taken into care.
‘They are worried about Ashya and the other children being taken away from them. That’s why they can’t come home. They’re exiles,’ she said.
‘They’re desperate to come back to England but they can’t because Brett can’t get assurances from the council that they won’t take the children away.
They are worried about the council, social services – everyone. They are very unhappy in Spain. They want to get on with their lives – they don’t want to live in exile.’ She said that they were living in rented accommodation after selling their flat near Marbella in Spain so they could pay for Ashya’s care.
The family still have a house in Southsea, Hampshire, which they can return to if they feel safe enough to.
Yesterday, it emerged that Ashya is now cancer-free after the private clinic in Prague where he was treated issued a report, according to the Sun.
His father yesterday told the paper that he fears his son would not have survived had he been treated by the health service.
‘It has justified everything we have gone through because things are working out for Ashya,’ he said. ‘If we had left Ashya with the NHS we don’t think he would have survived. We have saved his life.’
The parents, who are Jehovah’s Witnesses, said that Ashya was starting to speak again, playing with his brothers and sister and playing Lego and computer games.
He added: ‘We’d like to think we have been vindicated but we will always have the doubters. However we know we did the right thing for Ashya. We acted out of love. We’d do the same again. We were arrested for child cruelty and neglect. But leaving Ashya in the NHS would have been far more cruel.’
In an earlier interview, Ashya’s grandmother said: ‘When they think it’s OK, they will come home. Ashya is having speech therapy and is coming along and doing well. They’re really pleased with him.
‘They all want to come back. The older boys want to come back, Brett and Naghmeh want to come back, but it’s all up in the air at the moment. They’re all hoping it will resolve itself, but Brett has got to be absolutely certain that Ashya will not be taken into care.’
Michael Lawther, Portsmouth City Council’s city solicitor, said: ‘The wardship order has been discharged and the council is no longer involved in court proceedings. Therefore it’s not a council matter whether the King family return to the UK.’
A spokesman said the family may have talked to the council but could not confirm this.
‘We did the right thing’