Ashya's Grandmother: Police Action 'Disgraceful'

The grandmother of Ashya King whose parents took him out of hospital without medical consent has condemned police for arresting the couple.

Patricia King told Sky News that Brett, 51, and Naghemeh, 45, are “brilliant parents, both of them. My daughter-in-law hasn’t left the hospital since he was admitted there.”

The pair, from Portsmouth, were arrested in Spain after taking Ashya out of hospital in Southampton  to seek specialist cancer treatment abroad.

Mrs King said she is “so upset” to learn her son and daughter-in-law are facing court action, accused of neglect.

The pair were handcuffed and taken to a court in Velez-Malaga on Sunday night.

A judge will decide whether they are to be sent to a high court in Madrid on Monday for further legal proceedings.

Mrs King heavily criticised Hampshire Police for launching a Europe-wide search for them.

“I think they (the police) have been absolutely disgraceful … I have nothing but condemnation for them,” she said.

Mrs King said her son took desperately-ill Ashya because the NHS said there was nothing more they could do for him.

She said he was selling his holiday home in Spain to pay for proton beam therapy , which she thought would cost £90,000.

“To be told that that’s it, that you can’t do any more for the child, of course Brett took alternative measures,” she said.

“Other people have done it (sought proton beam therapy), so why have they gone after my son like this?

“They’ve made him out to be a criminal.”

Officers in the Malaga area pulled over the family’s car on Saturday night and found Ashya and his parents inside after a tip-off.

Sky News sources say British police have arrived in the area to question his parents, who face extradition to the UK.

Ashya, who had surgery for a brain tumour last week at Southampton General Hospital, is thought to be in a stable condition at the Materno-Infantil hospital in Malaga.

His six brothers and sisters are still thought to be in the southern Spanish city.

Earlier, Assistant Chief Constable Chris Shead, of Hampshire Constabulary, defended his force’s actions.

He said: “Faced with the situation that we were, we had medical experts telling us Ashya was in grave danger… if he didn’t get the care that he needed there was a potential threat to his life.

“So I make no apologies for being as proactive in this investigation as we have been.”

He said it was too soon to say when Ashya would come back to the UK, but said Southampton General Hospital was liasing with doctors taking care of him in Spain.

Source Article from https://uk.news.yahoo.com/grandmother-ashyas-treatment-disgraceful-172359327.html

Ashya's Grandmother: Police Action 'Disgraceful'