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The parents of Ashya King – who was taken to Prague for life-saving proton beam therapy for a brain tumour – have said they fear returning to the UK in case their son is taken away from them by social services.

The King family sparked an international search for Ashya in August, after they removed the five-year-old from Southampton General Hospital, where he was being treated for a brain tumour.

They travelled to Europe with him to seek pioneering brain cancer treatment.

Southampton General Hospital claim the family did not advise them they were removing their son – and when the family failed to return to the ward with him, police were alerted.

The King family took Ashya to Spain where they have a holiday home – and then to Prague to be treated using the revolutionary brain tumour treatment, which doctors at Southampton Hospital had said would not necessarily help Ashya’s condition.

The NHS later agreed to pay for the proton beam therapy carried out at Prague’s Proton Therapy Centre. It is believed a course of proton beam therapy can cost up to £100,000.

At one stage, the Kings were reported to be selling their holiday home in Spain to pay for the treatment for Ashya.

Proton beam therapy uses a precision laser to target the tumour alone and not the surrounding brain tissue, thereby reducing the risk of further brain injury as a result of treatment.

The King family is now back in Spain with Ashya – they say they fled the UK because of fears that NHS treatment for Ashya’s brain tumour would leave him deaf, blind and with a further serious brain injury.

Ashya’s parents Brett and Naghmeh were arrested in Spain after being traced there after an international arrest warrant was issued – and were imprisoned for a short period, leaving Ashya alone in hospital with just his elder brother at his bedside.

Mr and Mrs King now say they do not know what would await them if they returned to the UK with their son:

“There’s a real fear that we have regarding Ashya – we don’t really know what social services and the NHS still have in store for us,” said Mr King.

“If ever they try to take Ashya away, then that would kill us. Knowing that Ashya is alive but some other parents have got him – we wouldn’t even be able to think about that.

“Until things are established with exactly what’s going to happen with Ashya, then we feel too scared to return.”

The family says that following proton beam therapy, Ashya’s condition has improved. Mrs King said:

“He’s communicating with us, because he can hear us and he can see us.

“He so much, so much better now and we’re really happy with him – the fact that he is saying a few words as well. He’s just improving every day.”

Mr King added, “It’s all been worth it.”

Duncan Lewis Children Lawyers

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