Parents 'cannot accept' nothing can be done for Ashya, says friend

A five-year-old boy with a brain tumour who was taken from hospital by his parents against doctors’ advice may be in Spain, police have said.

Parents 'cannot accept' nothing can be done for Ashya, says friend

A five-year-old boy with a brain tumour who was taken from hospital by his parents against doctors’ advice may be in Spain, police have said.

Ashya King’s family took him from Southampton General Hospital in England at around 2pm on Thursday and travelled on a ferry to France about two hours later.

Police were told by the hospital that the youngster was missing at 8.35pm that day – more than six hours after he was taken by his parents Brett King, 51, and Naghemeh King, 45.

Police have warned that the battery-operated feeding system “is likely to have expired” and his health will “deteriorate rapidly” without urgent medical care.

“Time is running out for this little boy,” Mr Shead said. “We need to find him and we need to find him urgently.”

Hampshire Constabulary today said they had “positive information” to suggest that Ashya’s family may now be in Spain where they have “strong links” to the Marbella area.

Assistant Chief Constable Chris Shead said: “The need to find Ashya is now desperate. It is really important that we find him and ensure he receives medical attention at the earliest opportunity.

“We still don’t know whether the King family have any spare batteries for the machine which administers food, the knowledge, or any way of recharging the battery. Without properly administered food Ashya’s situation is very serious. We still urge everyone to please help us find him.”

Police said they are now working closely with Spanish authorities to find Ashya.

The search widened considerably yesterday as Interpol sent out a missing persons alert to each of its 190 member countries.

Ashya is in a wheelchair and is fed through a tube. He has undergone “extensive surgery”, with his last operation seven days ago.

A family friend claimed Ashya’s family had “run away in desperation” because they cannot accept nothing can be done for their son.

On Hampshire Constabulary’s Facebook page, Katie Fletcher wrote: “This is my mother’s friend, she has run away in desperation because they cannot accept that there is nothing that can be done for their son and want to look for help abroad.

“Please don’t judge, they are a very sweet loving family and I can only believe they are doing this because they want to help their son.”

The Kings boarded a cross-Channel ferry from Portsmouth to Cherbourg with Ashya’s six siblings at 4pm on Thursday and arrived in France at 8pm local time.

The family, from Southsea, are travelling in a grey Hyundai I800 Style CRDI, registration KP60 HWK.

Ashya is likely to be in a wheelchair or buggy, he cannot communicate verbally and is immobile, police have said.

Mr Shead said the six-and-a-half-hour gap between Ashya being taken from hospital and police being called would be considered "further down the line".

University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust said Ashya was allowed to leave the ward under his parents’ supervision and hospital staff raised the alarm when the length of his absence “became a cause of concern”.

The Office of Public Information for Jehovah’s Witnesses confirmed that Ashya’s parents were followers of the religious movement.

Ashya's parents are Jehovah’s Witnesses. Although Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse blood transfusions on religious grounds, a spokesman said there was “absolutely no indication” that the family’s decision was “motivated by any religious convictions”.

Police have said their “total focus” is on finding Ashya and his parents are not under criminal investigation.

Ashya’s paternal grandmother, Patricia King, said his parents were “wonderful” and had been left beside themselves at their child’s plight.

Speaking from her home in Southsea yesterday, she said of her son: “He’s the most caring and wonderful father you could ever have. The kids love him.”

She also praised her daughter-in-law, saying she had kept a bedside vigil while Ashya was in hospital.

“We are a very close family,” she added.

Ms King said she last spoke to her son “quite a while ago”, adding: “He wouldn’t have told me anything because he wouldn’t want me to know anything in case I got involved in it all.”

She said she did not know whether Ashya’s illness was terminal, saying: “I knew he was seriously ill, we all knew that.”

In a Facebook message posted on July 31, Ashya’s brother Naveed said the youngster had been diagnosed with a malignant stage four brain tumour.

Naveed – whose Instagram profile says he is 20 – also posted an update on Facebook on August 18 signed “King family”, saying that Ashya had been “progressing slowly but continuously with only minor problems along the way”.

The post included several pictures, one showing Ashya with his mother and another of a large stitched wound at the back of the boy’s head and neck.

Naveed also uploaded a series of poignant videos to YouTube in which he described his little brother’s ordeal.

Legal experts said that it was “unlikely” that the Kings had committed an offence by taking Ashya out of hospital.

Professor Penney Lewis, of King’s College London, said: “I think it is possible that if they are found and still won’t co-operate that social services could become involved and the child taken into foster care.

The academic said there was a “theoretical possibility” that the police and CPS might act against Ashya’s parents if any harm came to him because he had been taken out of hospital.

But she added: “There has never been a case where parents have done something like this and they have been prosecuted.”

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