Recovery: Ashya King, pictured last October, is clear of cancer after his parents Brett and Naghmeh took him for pioneering treatment in the Czech Republic after fleeing a Southampton hospital last year . The parents of five-year-old brain cancer sufferer Ashya King revealed today  their son is clear of the disease. Brett and Naghmeh King were put in prison after taking their son out of an NHS hospital and going across Europe to seek pioneering proton therapy in the Czech Republic. Now, some five months after he completed the pioneering treatment, they said Ashya was making good progress, starting to speak again and able to play with his brothers and sisters in the park. His parents told a newspaper he had been given the all-clear by the private clinic that treated him. Mr King, 51, told The Sun: 'We are absolutely delighted. It has justified everything we have gone through, because things are working out for Aysha. 'If we had left him with the NHS we don't think he would have survived. We have saved his life. 'We could not sleep before we got this news. Now we are so full of hope for the future. We are jumping up and down with joy this is a miracle we thought we would never see.' His wife, 46, added: 'We could not sleep before we got this news — now we are so full of hope for the future. We are jumping up and down with joy. It is a miracle we thought we would never see.' A report issued by the private clinic's oncology department last week declared Ashya cancer-free. However, the family has yet to return to the UK and are living in their holiday home in Spain. He described the advanced proton beam therapy treatment Ashya had as 'sniper fire' which specifically targeted the cancer. The couple sparked a manhunt last year when they took their son abroad to seek pioneering proton therapy. Mr King said the treatment was 'much less harmful' than the conventional therapy which doctors at Southampton General Hospital intended to give to Ashya. The Kings faced every parent's worst nightmare when their son was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour after suffering a series of mystery symptoms. Scroll down for video . Fresh start: Five months after the pioneering proton therapy, Ashya, pictured in September in the Czech Republic, is making good progress, starting to speak again and able to play with his brothers and sisters . Support: Mr and Mrs King were arrested last year after taking their son out of an NHS hospital to take him for the pioneering treatment in the Czech Republic, pictured on the intensive ward  in Prague in September . But the family's own research into his condition led them to question the need for normal NHS radiotherapy - which would risk massive damage to healthy brain tissue and lead to lifelong disabilities. And despite threats to revoke their parental rights unless they went along with the therapy, the Kings defiantly fled to Spain in a bid to get Ashya to the Proton Therapy Centre (PTC) in Prague and protect him from the devastating side effects of NHS treatment. They were arrested by European authorities and banned from seeing their sick son, with a High Court judge only approving the move to Prague after they had been released. When he finally arrived at the centre in September last year, Ashya was so sick he was unable to move and had to be fed by tubes. But in October, he was pictured smiling and waving to cameras, thrilled at the prospect of returning to the family holiday home in Malaga, Spain, and finishing his treatment there with his parents and older brother Naveed. Disappearance: The couple sparked a worldwide manhunt when they took Ashya from Southampton General Hospital last August (pictured  CCTV footage) Since then, he has continued to make encouraging progress and is enjoying a more normal life. At the time, Mr King the family said they were so scarred by their nightmare experience that they would not be returning to the UK for the foreseeable future, fearing Ashya would be 'taken away' from them. Their son was largely left alone in a Spanish hospital during their three-day detention, howling in despair and confusion at being apart from his family. Held in grimy adjoining cells at a Spanish police station, Mr King recalled to the Mail: 'She [Naghmeh] was crying: 'Ashya, where is my Ashya?' On and on and on . 'She was saying: 'Are you happy now? We should have stayed in England — this would never have happened.' Suddenly it was my fault.' Mrs King said: 'I wasn't crying for myself in prison, I was crying for Ashya. I didn't want him to be alone in a foreign country not understanding the language. I was just praying the nurses would feel sorry for him, be with him, so he wasn't completely alone.' Ashya had 30 irradiation sessions to fight his rare brain tumour at the Prague clinic which has said proton therapy is more effective than radiotherapy because it limits the collateral damage of radiation to other vital organs. Good news: The Kings have stood by their decision and said that the treatment had been so successful that their son, pictured in October, had now been given the all-clear . Belief: Mrs King said that she believes that if she and her husband had left Ashya, pictured in September, at the NHS hospital, he would not have survived . Ashya was unable to speak or move following surgery in Britain and had still not uttered a word in the Prague clinic after the treatment. Mrs King told The Sun: 'At the clinic we were trying to get him to speak — then this nurse came in with a needle and he suddenly shouted 'No!'. 'We thought it was a miracle. It really blew our minds. He was just saying 'No' to everything. It was funny.' He soon progressed to other words — and now chatters away, according to the newspaper. The therapy is not available for him on the NHS, although the health service has since agreed to fund Ashya's treatment. The outcry over the family's ordeal led to criticism that police and prosecutors had been too cruel in issuing the European arrest warrant, which was eventually withdrawn. Public anger also prompted a nationwide fundraising effort in a bid to help the family. Dr Nick Plowman, senior clinical oncologist at Great Ormond Street children's hospital, told BBC Radio 4's World At One: 'It's very gratifying to hear that he is in remission, and if time goes on and he holds that remission, hopefully that equates with cure. 'I do not agree that he could not have been in a similar situation had he had orthodox X-ray radiotherapy, which is going on to a very high standard in all the departments in this country. 'That's not to say there are no advantages of protons, but I think we could have achieved the remission he is in now with standard radiotherapy.'
Brain cancer sufferer Ashya King given all clear after his proton therapy . His parents sparked a manhunt last year when they took him from hospital . Brett and Naghmeh King took him for pioneering treatment in Prague . Mr King said: 'This is a miracle we thought we would never see'
They were arrested and jailed in Spain but then released without charge . Five months on and the five-year-old is recovering well from the treatment . The Kings claim if they had left their son with the NHS  he would have died .