By Tom Powell and Rob Horgan in Casares
ASHYA King’s siblings have returned to stay at the stunning seafront apartment that they have owned on the Costa del Sol for more than ten years.
Their family car, a Hyundai, was this morning parked up out the front of their luxury coastal urbanisation, near Estepona. The boot was visibly full of bags.
They had spent the previous night staying in a nearby urbanisation in the small municipality of Casares, where they lived for a decade.
The two oldest brothers, Danny and Naveed, were seen with their younger siblings by neighbours yesterday playing by the pool and unpacking the car.
According to one, they this morning went to visit their five-year-old brother Ashya in the Malaga hospital where he is under police guard.
According to town hall sources, the family were registered as living in the town between 2008 and 2011.
The children went to local schools, including Las Vinas school in Manilva, while their father Brett went off each morning to work.
“He had a regular job and always went off looking smart with a briefcase,” said neighbour Penny, who has owned a holiday apartment in the urbanisation with husband Nigel for over a decade.
“I don’t know how they all managed to live in that small apartment but somehow they did for years, I couldn’t believe it when I saw the mother pregnant yet again two years ago.
“They eventually moved to her mother’s two bedroom apartment nextdoor, which gave them a bit more space.”
A local estate agent confirmed they were selling the one bedroom apartment that overlooks the straits of Gibraltar towards Africa.
The apartment, believed to be for sale for around 150,000 euros has been on the market on and off for a couple of years.
“They have been trying to sell it for years,” said neighbour Penny.
“I don’t think it helped when they put religious banners up which said things like ‘God is great’, it didn’t please the local residents and they were told to take them down.
“However they believed passionately in their religion and they were clearly a nice family.
“Every Sunday they used to go off to church dressed up to the nines.
“We stopped seeing them a while back when they all moved to Haiti as a family.”
Another neighbour saw armed police outside the urbanisation gate on Friday night, staying all night, but nothing happened.
Casares resident and fellow Jehovah’s witness Joseph Lathey told the Olive Press the King family were the ‘kindest, most generous people imaginable’.
“They travelled a lot so they were away for long periods, but they were always great fun when they were around. I met the whole family many times at Jehovah’s Witness meetings, and at social occasions.
“Naveed has got thousands of emails coming in every day, I haven’t been able to speak to him because he is so busy.
“They have support coming in from all over the world because they travelled so much.”
Today a petition is being taken to number ten Downing Street by family friend Ethan Dallas. Meanwhile the paypal account set up for donatioons is back up and running, and the Facebook group ‘Fight for Ashya King’ has reached more than 10,000 members.
Brett King, 51, and his wife Naghmeh, 45, fled to Spain with Ashya, who has a brain tumour, leaving Southampton general hospital without consent.
They were found by police and arrested on Saturday night after a Europe-wide hunt following doctors’ claims his life was in danger.
His father claimed they took him out of the hospital in England because they wanted him to have proton beam therapy, a specific treatment which was not available in the UK.
The parents, who are Jehovah’s witnesses, have not seen their son since the arrest at a hostel in Benajarafe.
Brett King appeared on a 10-minute YouTube video explaining why the family took Ashya from the hospital and asked the police to ‘call off this ridiculous chase’.
Interpol had sent out a missing persons alert to its 190 member countries as concerns for the boy’s welfare grew since he was removed from hospital by his parents on Thursday, August 28.
An online petition demanding the release of the Kings has gathered almost 40,000 signatures.
His older brother Naveed has posted a YouTube video arguing that the family did care properly for Ashya while travelling.
Did you know the family? The Olive Press is hoping to help their appeal to raise funds for Ashya’s treatment.
Contact newsdesk@theolivepress.es
Can someone clarify something please ? Where were the family living ? From this report it reads as if they were Spanish residents. If so why is there son in a Southampton hospital ?
armed police?????????????….is there any in spain thats not??????????//
@Simon. They may be residents in Spain but as Brits if they want hospital care in Britain they have that right. It may well be that they are not Spanish residents (just owning a property does not make you resident as I’ sure you know) and if so the Spanish hospital that diagnosed his condition may well have said “that’ll be €25,000”.
That’s me reading between the lines.
Not clear where they are living
Not clear what they do for a living
I think there is more to this case than meets the eye
To Simon they live in Portsmouth they where going to spain to sell their holiday home for his treatment when they got arrested lst Saturday hope that helps you
@Tracy. Thanks for clarifying the matter. The article was unclear to say the least.
Simon, did you not read that they were OFFICIALLY registered living in Casares between 2008 and 2011 acc to the town hall but have been backwards and forwards for a decade? They are huge fans of Spain and, in particular, the Casares/Estepona area. Nobody said they haven’t been living in Portsmouth for the last year while having holidays here..
@Jon: Thank you Jon, yes I read that. However the article fails to mention where they have been since 2011. In fact no mention is made of Portsmouth. According to the article the last known whereabouts is Haiti. So why do you have a problem with me asking the question ??
People just have to be bitchy, suspisious and condemnatory! They lived in Spain, then in the U.K. (I didn’t knpow about Haiti, but they lived in the U.K. when he was in Southampton Hospital.) He’s a property developer, but not a huge-earning one. “More in this than meets the eye” is probably due to the suspect-and-condemn dark glasses you’re wearing. If you took the trouble to read more before commenting, you’d know that Southampton hospital delayed sennding his medical reocrds for two weeks after the Prague hospital requested them, that they said propton beam therapy wouldn’t be suitable, though now the specialists say he is, that they told Brett that if he resisted their treament plan in favour of another, the child could be made a ward of court. I hope the child recovers and the Kings are vondicated and that Southampton lot are forced to apologise, at least. I’ve had a very sick child in a U.K. hosptal and she was neglected nearly to death, while I was treated like dirt. I had to do what the Kings did and I wish I’d done it faster.
P.S. Sorry about the typos – should have corrected before posting.
Hi Simon… Think that’s the point… It’s all a little unclear… They have been in Portsmouth, Spain and Haiti, as far as we are aware…just know officially they left Spain in 2011/12