Neon Roberts: mother stands by legal bid to stop son receiving radiotherapy for brain tumour

"I constantly ask them about the side- effects and that is what I am most unhappy about."

Asked for her view on the legal battle, she told BBC Radio 5 Live's Victoria Derbyshire: ''I stand by that. I'm upset that they moved forward in the way they have.

''I'm having to face the side-effects from the radiation and the chemotherapy, which is devastating.''

Ms Roberts, a New Zealander living in Brighton, East Sussex, said ''weak and fragile'' Neon had lost his hair and suffered weight loss, poor short-term memory and poor co-ordination.

But, despite the side-effects, Ms Roberts said she has been told the success rate from having the treatment has been put at between 67 per cent and 82 per cent.

She said: ''I have never doubted that he was not going to be alive at the end of this, with or without treatment.

''I just felt that he would be much better off without the treatment and providing the body with what it needs to heal, not bombarding it with radiation, which is what we are taught to avoid.

''I don't understand why we are using it in hospitals. I find it barbaric and plain torture. Needlessly, children are suffering.''

She added that the course of treatment was ''unnecessary'' and went on: ''They just come in with their conventional cure and it's worse than the condition itself.''

Ms Roberts made headlines when she disappeared with Neon but both were found safe and well after a judge ordered a search. She later apologised for vanishing and said that she had panicked.

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Neon Roberts: mother stands by legal bid to stop son receiving radiotherapy for brain tumour