Britain used to pride itself on many things: education, law enforcement and a sense of calm in a crisis. Over the years, those values have eroded, eaten away by profit margins, lethargy and an unreasonable belief that technology will evolve entire nations with the click of a mouse.
What we are left with are the ruins of dreams. What we are left with, is Ashya King.
Ashya is the five-year old boy who has a brain tumour and whose parents removed him from hospital to flee to Malaga. The hospital in question refused to treat Ashya with a procedure the parents felt was less invasive – a procedure which targets the tumour specifically, avoiding, as the parents explained, Ashya’s entire body being bombarded with radiation. The hospital refused to entertain this therapy, and so the family fled to Malaga to find alternative treatment.
The police then issued an arrest warrant. In the days that followed, the family were located and the parents arrested.
The hospital and the police involved are unrepentant – Ashya, they say, needed immediate medical attention and should never have left the care of medical professionals. The parents, aware that their decision might cause concern, posted a video on Facebook to explain their actions.
So how did we get to a point where this evening, a little boy suffering with a brain tumour is no longer in the care of his loving parents because they have been arrested? Arrested for trying to find him the safest treatment possible for his condition.
The truth is, this story started long ago, when the justice system began to deteriorate, slowly at first, and then faster as resources become scarcer and people cared less and less about the art of their work and more about surviving environments where human beings have become nothing more than numbers, tools and scapegoats. But the end result is Ashya King.
Overbearing, heavy-handed and without common sense to steer its wielding power, government agencies are failing to carry out the most basic tasks. The hospital in question should have done more to help the family find a treatment for their son they felt comfortable with. They should have understood their concerns and tried to support them. They should have communicated better – whether to explain that the treatment was not effective or just to try to find a better way. But nobody bothered. And so the family fled. To a place, as it turns out, where they were happy with the treatment on offer.
The police should never have issued an arrest warrant. The EAW is already under extreme scrutiny for its blatant misuse over the last few years. It’s deeply embarrassing to think that our police force believe such an action in this context was even warranted. It’s hard to imagine that they ever tried to engage with the parents first, or to understand what was going on. And knowing that they had sought out treatment elsewhere and were clearly not neglecting their son, the police should have dealt with the warrant and had it set aside. But they didn’t.
And tonight, a little boy with a brain tumour lies in a hospital bed on his own, without the parents he so loves, and who love him.
Researching Reform 
I think people should be rightly incensed that this has been allowed to carry on and a lot of this families EU rights are being squashed flat “for the child’s welfare” which is a mantra heard so many times from so called professional, rights aren’t negotiable and the right of freedom of movement, the freedom to choose alternate medicines and treatments, the very right of a family life are being trampled on wholesale because the hospital got it wrong, the police got it wrong but I bet a pound to a penny there is a radicalised social worker somewhere along the line that forced this to where it is.
What if that little boy passed away tonight, never to have the opportunity to have his mum and dad with him? Who is overseeing his current treatment and with who’s permission because Spanish law is fairly straightforward in that only parents can allow certain things and I bet you someone in the UK is trying to take it over because they think they know better.
And this reminds me of Professor Irelands damning report into court reporting and how she found mission and remit creep across the board, social workers speaking as qualified medical doctors, police officers speaking as psychologists, psychologists speaking as lawyers and a mire of confusion as to who has authority and who does not, removing a child from one hospital to another cannot be considered a case of inflicted risk, if they done a bunk to Bolivia to live in a log cabin and close their eyes to his illness, now that is a risk and EU law does trump UK law in certain areas, I don’t think the parents have done a thing wrong and reports time and again surface that radiotherapy causes more problems for some than heals, same as chemotherapy.
If you read between the lines, the hospital was dragging its feet, it said it perhaps could, sometime down the line, maybe in six months or so, if no other patient in more urgent need had utilised the “slot” finance the trip to Spain, to the exact same hospital, to the same consultant, the parents were right too that in six months time, it would have been too late whatever therapy had been applied so they did what any good parent did, made the thing happen rather than wait on Britain’s appalling politically correct, finance and profit driven failing healthcare.
Sadly this is the other side of what tax cuts means, when we had 25p in the pound taxation, we had a positive balance of budgets, we had an NHS to be proud of, schools to be proud of, the roads didn’t have potholes, the railways worked and people had enough to live on but the selfish “me, me and me” brigade didn’t want to be part of the social bargain that was the welfare state and so the government plundered the chests to finance their tax cuts to appease the selfish and the greedy and we have watched ourselves plummet from the top world spot in many indicators to that comparable to 2nd world nations.
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Thank you, AG, for the details and for your thoughts. It really is a disgrace, and I do think the family are owed an apology and should be returned to the side of their son immediately. Appalling. Just appalling.
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As the facts of this matter begin to emerge, and the truth is out, the situation surrounding this poor child must surely open the public’s eyes to what is happening all around us, outside of our ‘comfortable lives’?
It is NOT merely a ‘sad fact’ that institutions supposedly created to guard and protect the welfare of children are in reality exposing them to risk harm on a potentially industrial scale, due to professional malfeasance and procedural neglect – it’s an absolute scandal of national proportion, and may eventually come to be considered for what it is; institutionalised child abuse on a massive scale.
Cafcass and Social Services are constantly coming under public scrutiny for entirely the wrong reasons, and so much more wrongdoing involving children goes unnoticed due to underreporting, and secrecy. Latterly, such secrecy does not protect the interests of the child; it more usually protests the interests of incompetence and neglect. This is both inevitable; yet, almost entirely avoidable.
We need to stop accepting this nonsense. Putting the child’s welfare first should mean ‘putting the child’s welfare first’ – And not the exact opposite. Children deserve better!
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Hi Kenneth, thank you for your thoughts. Yes, children definitely do deserve better – the low standards here just aren’t acceptable.
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It’s not deeply embarrassing to think that our police force believe such an action was warranted. They have only acted in this way because the climate has been created where they fell it safe and legimate to act in this way.
Look at what has happened to conjoined twins and other non-divorce cases over the years – the familty courts became involved.
” . . . first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye” somehow springs aptly to mind here.
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Robert, I’ve told you before. You can comment on this forum if you do so with civility and a genuine interest in the subject matter, rather than an obvious, and repeated attempt at poo-pooing everything I write. I’ve been watching your comments for months. You are consistently bombastic and irrationally critical of the content here. Note that I don’t take exception with anyone else who disagrees with me. One more strike and you are out.
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I was sickened when I heard of this very sad story. I watched the utube videos, updated as things became more media intense but was stuck by the calm, measured, intellectual response by the family despite being under such pressure. This was clearly a loving family who was trying to do the best for their son. The fact they went to Spain to seek alternative treatment, which they considered superior and which the UK was unable to provide their son with, does not smack of parents who would neglect any of their children, least of all the one who is seriously ill!
To be hounded and treated as criminals shows just how shameful “care protection” has become in the UK. Irish social workers were staggered by the way British social workers persued parents that fled there to stop their children going into care and Spain has been a sanctuary to some. Unfortunately with such a high profile alert and a family, not trying to hide, they were located, arrested and their child removed from their care. After all the news of the failures of Sheffield Hospital and only this weeks exposé of the Rotherham social workers and police force, I dont think they are capable of getting anything right anymore! How can they,when they lack any degree of empathy!
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Oh Dana, I agree. It’s fascism at its most insidious.
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Tragedy heaped on tragedy for this small boy and his family by medical professionals in Southampton and the police in doing their bidding. This stinks of medical hubris.
Hundreds of people in Britain are denied treatments for cancer by medical professionals, not for clinical reasons, but for financial reasons.
The parents have said that the Southampton doctors said there was nothing more they could (or would) do for Ashya so they were well within their legal and moral rights to seek treatment elsewhere for their son and to leave Southampton medics pondering over their budgets.
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Absolutely. I’m so angry about the way this family was treated. They really do deserve an apology and much more besides.
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When did we lose our compassion and ability to care. I’m afraid that the U.S. is headed, if not already there, to this awful conclusion.
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Hi Judith. I think the Western world in general is really suffering with this disconnection phenomenon. It’s such a shame.
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Make no mistake here this is social services driving this abhorrent witch hunt against this family the police have to do what they are told. It is not the police demonising these parents it is social services and their legal ‘finest’ making an example of them for mistakenly believing they could have an opinion about their sons care that differed from the advice of ‘experts’. A shocking example of how the state will behave and even more shocking that it is allowed to do so!
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Thank you for your comment, Emma. I do think the authorities in this case behaved outrageously. A little common sense would have gone a long way.
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Reblogged this on Gabby Mottershead and commented:
Such a sad story
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I first came across this case on Friday morning. The first words I noticed were *without consent* in the BBC article. When I started looking deeper as the articles trickled out, on Saturday, I wrote a piece on my blog around the disturbing headlining of these parents. In 48 hours, my article became old news.
These two parents now sit in a Spanish prison having committed no crime at all. The hospital is the Villain here. Two separate statements and the ruse of the feeder machine was paltry. The Guardian reported that the hospital were concerned after Ashya was not returned after six hours. So the headlining was rubbish over Mr & Mrs King being child snatchers.
I have my feelings around the media representation and frankly, they are not printable, suffice to say, shady CCTV footage, looked as though media had got this one good and proper. Today, media has done a U – turn on family and support is immense. This stinks to the very highest order from the media.
Then we have the police. I absolutely understand the Police have to act on intelligence stating a child is in *grave* danger. I have no issue with Police checking on the welfare of a child. However, I am opposed to the European Arrest Warrant. The Interpol yellow warning was raised. Once the family had been located by Spanish police (and there have been no charges from the Spanish) would it perhaps just have been easier to allow Spanish police to ascertain safety of Ashya? To pass back via Interpol yellow warning and that process? That would have been the logical process to me as a layperson. Ashya was receiving Post-op care. He was not having treatment, he was receiving care. Care the hospital were happy to give to his parents.
But we do not do logic. We do *let’s show how much we can do for a vulnerable child* irrational thinking. Under the rights of a child, we have ended up with a little boy in hospital surrounded by strangers and deprived of his loving parents. If that is children’s rights, there’s no hope to pull anything into line.
The hospital did not listen to the parents. The hospital did not consider Ashya in his rights and this was where it all started. Intelligence was given to the police from the hospital.
Whatever that intelligence was made up of, Ashya is now without his parents, his siblings and could well be very distressed in his little mind unable to understand why his parents are not within his visual. The rights of Ashya have not been cared for or ranked top of this at all.
Back to media. See, they likely thought they had a poor person here to make an example of. Instead they are met with an intelligent, smart, loving father. This case is not going anywhere soon. Extradition? Does any person think the Kings are going to return to the UK and leave their little boy?
Whoever *wins* here, the loser is a five – year old very poorly little boy who cannot speak his feelings and with his eyes cannot see his loving family.
Which goes to show how UK has become so risk adverse and full of arrogance that we, as a country leave a little boy on a hospital bed, surrounded by strangers.
And that just clenches my heart in a vice – like grip.
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Hi Tracey, I couldn’t agree with you more, on all fronts. And I must go and check out your article. The point you mention about no crime being committed is, I think, poignant. (I’ve made this point in another article I’ve written for Jordans, as that piece focuses on the EAW and the use, or misuse of this very valuable instrument in the right hands and circumstances). And yes, yes, yes, the little boy is the one adversely impacted by this scenario – a terrible irony, given that this whole debacle was based on the premise that this child needed to be protected.
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Thank you, Natasha. Rumour mill is looking at offence under S1 of CYPA 1933.
What I’m reading in Spain, is that Spanish police have stated no crime on Spanish soil, but detention of Kings are down to EAW. Which as we know, as a member state is universal.
EAW is valuable but it’s where my questions lay.
And we, the public, will never find out the real meat in all of this. Which is the intelligence between the hospital & Police. An enquiry may get to the bottom of that one, but statements from police and hospital are orchestrated. I do not think we will ever know.
I’m still livid with press too. I wrote to editors of all three papers who ran *snatcher* headline. Doubt I’ll hear anything back.
Many thanks again, Natasha for chance to air views.
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That’s interesting, Tracey, thank you.
Another observation I wrote down in the Jordans article is that whilst the British police have now landed on Spanish soil, they are stating that they are not there to arrest the Kings. So what’s going to happen? We shall have to wait and see.
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