THE family of five-year-old brain tumour patient Ashya King have been "blown away" by the support they have received, a family friend said.

The boy's father, Brett King, visited him at the Materno-Infantil hospital in Malaga after mother Naghmeh spent the night at his bedside.

On Wednesday the pair saw their son for the first time since they were arrested on Saturday, having fled from Southampton General Hospital in search of treatment.

Speaking outside the Spanish hospital, family friend Daniel Pask, 35, said: "At the moment Ashya is in the best position we can hope for. The legal team are working tirelessly on the legal side of things.

"He is in a brilliant position, the best that can be hoped for. There are various different legal matters.

"The family are of course looking to achieve the best possible care at the moment.

"We still don't know, it's not confirmed what is the best possible treatment and we are really hoping that today is the day that we can answer that."

On the future health plans for Ashya, he said: "I don't have information on that. This is something which is one of the legal matters. That's been handled by the legal team.

"All I know is that the family, like everyone else, hope that today they can have some good news. They want the best treatment for Ashya and they want it at the right time.

"There are many many experts on this. But there are fantastic doctors here in Spain, fantastic people, world class experts in this kind of thing.

"And now that we have all the attention, let's see what the experts say."