British cancer boy's recovery chance now '70 per cent'

Ashya King in hospital. His parents were arrested after they took him from his hospital bed in the hope of seeking better treatment. Photo / Supplied

Five-year-old British brain tumour patient Ashya King is back in Spain from Prague after undergoing proton therapy that is unavailable in Britain, the family's lawyer says.

"They arrived this morning, the child is doing perfectly well. They are going to go to a private clinic for immunotherapy treatment," Juan Isidro Fernandez, told AFP from the southwestern city of Seville.

The clinic is "possibly" located in the southern city of Malaga where King's parents own an apartment, he added.

Ashya's parents, Brett and Naghmeh King, snatched the boy from a hospital in England in August, sparking an international uproar and a police manhunt.

The Kings feared that traditional radiotherapy would damage his brain and opted instead for proton therapy, touted as more precise as it targets only malignant cells.

They were taken into custody in Spain on an international warrant after British authorities suspected they were not acting in the best interests of the child.

But after the couple spent four days in a Spanish prison, a British court reunited them with their son in a Spanish hospital and allowed them to travel to the Czech capital for the treatment.

The boy spent almost 50 days in Prague where he underwent 30 sessions of proton therapy with a beam targeting his brain tumour and doctors say he now has about a 70 per cent chance of recovery.

After being admitted to the proton centre in a frail state in early September, Ashya can now eat on his own, sit up, play and even walk a few steps.

Ashya's father Brett King has said it would take the family some time to pluck up the courage to return to England.

- AP