Ulster Unionist MLA Jo-Anne Dobson has condemned a lack of common sense displayed by the authorities in the arrest and custody of Brett and Naghemeh King. The Party’s Health Spokesperson was commenting after Brett and Naghemeh King looked set to be freed from custody in Madrid and reunited with their son Ashya.

Jo-Anne Dobson MLA said;

“Whilst there has been much public debate over recent days on the King case, the one thing that is clear and which everyone can agree on is that this has been a personal tragedy for a family who were ripped apart in their time of greatest need.

“Whilst it is not for me or any other politician to tell police how to carry out their duties, I am baffled that the situation was allowed to get to such a stage. Not only will Ashya’s parents have been going through emotional turmoil, their young son will have been distraught at being in an alien environment with unfamiliar faces and a different language, whilst all the time being under police armed guard.   

“I know through personal difficult experience the importance of a strong family support network at a time of need. My son Mark was diagnosed with kidney failure when he was just five weeks old. When he turned 13 his kidneys started to shut down and when the call eventually came in 2009 that he was getting a transplant, we were never closer as a family.

“I would have moved heaven and earth to have been with my son when he was seriously ill so I cannot imagine what Ashya’s parents will have been going through. Thankfully commonsense eventually prevailed, but lessons need to be learned from this entire debacle.”