Police in England have been defending their handling of the disappearance of a boy - who was removed from a hospital in Southampton by his parents.

5 year-old Ashya King, who has a brain tumour, was found with his family in Spain yesterday.

Ashya was picked up last night near Malaga, along with his parents, who have been arrested and held on suspicion of neglect.

The child is said to be showing no visible signs of distress.

In a video posted online by one of his older sons, Ashya's father Brett said the family travelled to Spain as they wanted to sell his property and use the money to get their son what they described as better treatment in the Czech Republic.

He says his five-year-old son was never in any danger and the Police are over-reacting:

Assistant Chief Constable Chris Shead of Hampshire Constabulary said his parents, Brett King, 51, and Naghemeh King, 45, were in custody after being arrested on a European arrest warrant.

"There are no winners in this situation," he said. "I've said all along that this must be a terribly distressing time for Ashya's family and I stand by that now."

In response to criticism about the force's actions, he said: "Faced with the situation that we were, we had medical experts telling us Ashya was in grave danger... if he didn't get the care that he needed there was a potential threat to his life.

"So I make no apologies for being as proactive in this investigation as we have been."

He added that it was too soon to say when Ashya would come back to the UK but said Southampton General Hospital had been contacted so they can liaise with doctors taking care of him in Spain.

"Ashya's brothers and sisters were not in the vehicle," he said.

"We have located them. They're all okay, they're fine. They are actually in a hotel about 10 miles away."

He said a team of Hampshire police officers would now be travelling to Spain to continue the investigation.

Originally published 8:44am