This little boy’s parents are in a Madrid prison, he himself is isolated and alone under police guard in unfamiliar surroundings and his six siblings, led by the 23 year old eldest son, are looking after themselves and each other and to the extent contact is allowed, Ashya. What a gold star, well adjusted family. And why are they in this awful situation? They disagreed with their child’s doctors, lost confidence in them, and decided to seek private treatment abroad.
And what was the response of this country, which prides itself on fairness and freedom and human rights, and spends half its time pointing fingers at Putin, the Chinese and all those countries which fall short of our Utopia and sense of fair play? An international arrest warrant for child neglect, extradition proceedings and imprisonment of both parents.
This is one of the most despicable episodes of lunatic process on a Kafka scale, bereft of rhyme, reason, judgement and understanding. It is also a perversion of the course of justice. Hampshire police admitted to me yesterday that they had used the child neglect option because there was no other statue under which it could issue the warrant. There was no other statute because no crime had been committed. So they invented one. And that is itself surely a crime?