ASHYA King, the boy who was taken from hospital to Spain by his parents for pioneering brain cancer treatment, is improving.

According to his brother Naveed’s Facebook page the five-year-old, from Southsea, has recovered to such a degree that his family hope he will soon be walking unaided.

Naveed said: ‘Ashya’s progress is steady and hopefully soon he can make his first step alone.’

Ashya’s parents Brett and Naghmeh, took him from Southampton General last August to their Spanish home. Their plan was to sell the property to fund pioneering proton beam therapy because they feared the NHS treatment he was due to receive, combining radiotherapy and chemotherapy, would have damaging side effects.

He eventually underwent the proton beam therapy in Prague.