Ashya King Timeline
Updated: 1:29pm UK, Monday 08 September 2014
Here is a timeline of events in the Ashya King case:
Wednesday July 23
Ashya's brother Naveed, 20, posts a video to YouTube saying his little brother has been diagnosed with a brain tumour and is due to undergo emergency surgery.
Sunday August 24
Ashya undergoes extensive surgery and the tumour is successfully removed.
The family says later that Ashya subsequently suffered from 'posterior fossa syndrome' which usually results in a loss of speech and mobility.
According to a family YouTube video, Ashya's father Brett went to see his cancer specialists and asked them whether Ashya could be given proton beam therapy, which is not available on the NHS but is available elsewhere. Mr King says in the video that the doctors told him that it would not be suitable for his child.
Mr King carries out research which appears to contradict what his doctors said. He contacts a centre in the Czech Republic that performs proton beam therapy which says it is able to carry out treatment on Ashya.
Ashya's doctors say they are going to perform more chemo and radiotherapy on Ashya. Mr King claims they tell him that if he questions their medical opinion, they will get an emergency protection order to take Ashya away from him.
He later explains in the YouTube video that he felt put in an impossible position where, because of the threat of the protection order, he felt unable to discuss Ashya's treatment. As a result, he was compelled to take him out of hospital so they could seek the treatment for themselves. His plan, he says, was to sell his holiday home in Spain to pay for treatment.
Thursday August 28
2pm: Ashya is removed from the hospital by his parents at around, apparently against the medical advice of the doctors who were treating him. CCTV images captured the boy being wheeled from hospital by his father.
4pm: He is taken to Cherbourg, France by cross-Channel ferry and docks around 8pm.
8.35pm: The hospital alerts police that Ashya has been taken.
Friday August 29
Hampshire Constabulary says its concern about Ashya is growing with "each hour that passes".
Interpol issues a global Yellow Notice missing persons alert, informing 190 countries that he is being sought.
French police alert the media who urge motorists to be on the lookout for a right-hand drive English car.
Ashya is made a ward of court after an application by Portsmouth City Council.
Saturday August 30
After discovering that their son is being sought by police, the family record a video explaining why they took him out of hospital. His father Brett says he is being well looked after and the family have all the medical equipment they need to keep him in the same condition as he was in hospital.
Soon after, following a tip off, Spanish police pull over the family car near a hostel in Benajarafe, southern Spain, where they were staying.
8.30pm: He is removed from his family and taken to a hospital in Malaga. His parents are arrested and held at a police station.
Sunday August 31
British police arrive in Spain to question Ashya's parents Brett and Naghmeh.
Hampshire's chief constable is forced to justify why an international arrest warrant was necessary as it emerges police have not explained what charges his parents face.
Parents whose children had gone through similar experiences after suffering brain tumours come forward to support the Kings' decision.
Doctors defend the hospital by saying that proton beam therapy has not gone through all the necessary medical trials.
Ashya's parents are transferred to Madrid from Velez-Malaga in handcuffs.
Monday September 1
Ashya's parents arrive in court in Madrid for an extradition hearing. According to Sky sources, they tell the court they do not wish to return to the UK.
His brother Naveed puts another video on YouTube saying that the family had stocked up on the food and syringes that the boy needed ahead of their journey and bought him a brand new wheelchair costing up to £1,600.
His grandmother Patricia King tells Sky News that her son Brett is not a criminal. She says the Kings took Ashya because the NHS said there was nothing more it could do for him.
Portsmouth City Council explains that it asked for Ashya to be made a ward of court after a request by Southampton General Hospital.
Tuesday September 2
It emerges the extradition hearing is adjourned for three days. Ashya's parents are returned to police cells. None of his family are allowed to visit him in hospital.
Janice Atkinson, UKIP South East MEP, calls on the Home Secretary to contact the Spanish authorities so that Ashya's parents are released immediately.
Prime Minister David Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg join mounting calls for Ashya King to be reunited with his jailed parents
Portsmouth City Council calls for a halt to extradition proceedings against them.
It emerges that Ashya's parents are planning legal action against Southampton General Hospital.
The parents are told to appear at court in Madrid to the next day.
Online petitions calling for the Kings' release gain 200,000 signatures.
Britain's Crown Prosecution Service reviews the case and decides not to prosecute Brett and Naghmeh King.
Hampshire Constabulary says it will make no apology for "being proactive" in the search for Ashya.
A hearing at the High Court in London to discuss Ashya's 'ward status' is adjourned until the following week
Wednesday September 3
Ashya's parents are released from custody and head for Seville for a meeting with their lawyer.
Southampton General Hospital releases a statement saying it had been willing to support the family's wish to go to Prague for treatment, but "did not recommend it".
The statement says that after Ashya's tumour was "successfully" removed on July 24, Mr and Mrs King were told there was "likely to be no difference in survival between standard radiotherapy and proton radiotherapy and overall no proven significant benefit".
With the correct treatment, doctors believed Ashya's chances of survival were "very good" - between 70% and 80%.
Mr and Mrs King are reunited with their son, who is described as being "so pleased" to be back with them.
Mr King emerges from custody to say that he and his wife have been treated like "terrorists".
Chief paediatrician at the Southampton General Dr Peter Wilson said staff were "very, very worried" when they realised Ashya was missing, which is why they called police.
The Proton Therapy Centre in Prague says doctors in Southampton have agreed to refer Ashya to the clinic after two cycles of chemotherapy in the UK, which was likely to take several weeks.
A fundraising page set up to help pay for the therapy raises £21,000 and charity Kids'n'CancerUK says they have agreed to provide £100,000.
Thursday September 4
Ashya's parents are told they cannot remove him from the Spanish hospital until a treatment plan is presented to a court in the UK. It is because, legally, he is regarded as the responsibility of the UK courts.
Mr King says his son deteriorated in hospital after he was separated from his parents.
Friday September 5
The Proton Therapy Centre in the Czech Republic offers to fly Ashya and his parents to Prague for treatment.
Public donations reach £41,000.
Saturday September 6
Mr Justice Baker at the High Court in London approves Ashya's parents' request to take him to Prague for treatment following telephone discussions between their lawyers and lawyers representing the hospital in Southampton.
He remains a ward of court.
Monday September 8
Ashya is flown to Prague for treatment at a proton therapy centre with his parents.