Ill British boy's parents freed in Spain

These are undated handout photos issued by England's Hampshire Police on Monday Sept. 1, 2014,  of Brett King and Naghemeh King, the parents of Ashya King, who have legal proceedings against them continuing in Spain after they took the five-year-old brain cancer patient out of hospital without doctors' consent.
These are undated handout photos issued by England's Hampshire Police on Monday Sept. 1, 2014, of Brett King and Naghemeh King, the parents of Ashya King, who have legal proceedings against them continuing in Spain after they took the five-year-old brain cancer patient out of hospital without doctors' consent.

SOTO DEL REAL, Spain -- Spanish officials on Tuesday ordered the immediate release of a detained British couple who were wanted by police in the United Kingdom after they took their critically ill child for treatment abroad without doctors' consent.

The National Court in Madrid said in a statement that a judge decided to free the couple Tuesday after British authorities dropped the case against them.

Brett and Naghemeh King were pursued by police after they took 5-year-old Ashya out of a hospital in southern England against doctors' advice and traveled to Spain, where they planned to sell a property to pay for proton-beam radiation therapy in the Czech Republic or the U.S.

They were arrested on a British warrant referring to cruelty to a person under 16 years of age and were being held at the Soto del Real prison, about 24 miles outside Madrid. Ashya, who has a severe brain tumor, was in a hospital in Malaga, about 300 miles away.

The parents were detained Monday after a judge ruled they should be held while a Madrid court considered Britain's extradition request, which was later revoked.

"No further action will be taken against Mr. and Mrs. King, and we are now in the process of communicating this decision to the Spanish authorities," British prosecutors said in a statement earlier Tuesday, adding they were revoking the request so the family could be reunited as soon as possible.

The Kings' lawyer, Juan Isidro Fernandez, said they had been released from the prison and that they would attend a news conference in southern Spain today to speak about the case.

The case has riveted Britain, with heated debate as to whether authorities acted appropriately in chasing the parents through Europe after they left Southampton General Hospital last week without the consent of doctors.

Prime Minister David Cameron took the unusual step of wading personally into the debate, posting on Twitter that he welcomed the prosecution against Ashya's parents being dropped.

"It's important this little boy gets treatment & the love of his family," he wrote.

Police said the arrest warrant was applied for so that Ashya could be found as soon as possible, but the situation is now "not right."

"Our intent was to secure his safety, not to deny him family support at this particularly challenging time in his life," Hampshire police chief constable Andy Marsh said.

Earlier in the day, Cameron told the radio station LBC that the plight of Ashya reminded him of his late son Ivan, who had cerebral palsy and epilepsy. The prime minister recalled having his own son sit on his lap and feeding him through a tube.

Information for this article was contributed by Danica Kirka of The Associated Press.

A Section on 09/03/2014

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