Man becomes tearful decades after being ‘snatched’ from mother as a baby

A 58-year-old man became overcome with emotion while describing how he was snatched from his mother’s arms as a baby, never to see her again.

Tonight, ITV’s Long Lost Family returns, following presenters Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell as they attempt to help people reunite with long-lost relatives.

Two men are separately looking for siblings who they were separated from – and one of these men is Peter Macdonald, a painter and decorator from Lancashire.

In a clip from the first episode of the new series, Peter explains how he was taken away from his mother when he was just a couple of months old, as his father literally wrenched him away from his mum moments before the train she was on departed.

Not only was he separated from his mother, but he also lost contact with his older brother Trevor, who was around two years old at the time.

‘My father told me everything. My mother would take us to Preston Railway Station,’ Peter says in the episode. ‘Trevor was about two, and I was two and a half months old.

‘My mother was on the train with me and Trevor, and my father had turned up, and there was a bit of an argument.’

After Peter’s father arrived at the station, the train started to move, and it was at this point that his father snatched him from his mother.

‘As the train was leaving the station, my father grabbed me off my mother, ‘cause I was in her arms, and the door was shut, and that was it. The train pulled away. I’ve never seen my brother or my mother again,’ he shares.

‘I do feel for my mother, anybody taking your child off you would be very traumatic.

‘If she’d have kept hold of me, and he hadn’t snatched me, then everything would’ve been the way I wanted it to be with Trevor.’

At this point, Peter starts to look tearful. ‘Starting to get me now,’ he says.

After being taken away from his mother, Peter grew up in care, only discovering what happened to him as a baby several years later.

When he was older, Peter yearned to track down his brother – and fortunately, he manages to do so with the help of Long Lost Family.

The programme finds a Trevor in London who has a middle name beginning with E, as Peter’s brother Trevor had the middle name Edward.

After meeting with presenter Nicky, Trevor confirms that he was aware that he had a younger brother called Peter, and also reveals that their mother died in 2008.

‘When she got very ill, she started to talk a lot more, open up a lot more. She did say to me: “Find him, look for him,”’ Trevor says.

The older brother adds about his younger brother Peter: ‘I’m doing this for him, and for myself and for mum.

‘I think she’d be proud of me doing that. Can’t wait. I really can’t wait now.’

Peter is in for a huge shock when Davina shows him pictures of his mother, who closely resembles his own daughter.

He’s left even more stunned when he’s informed that his brother Trevor has been found.

The siblings finally share a tearful reunion in London, decades after they were separated.

‘Two brothers together and last. There is an automatic connection,’ Peter says, promising to meet up again as frequently as he can in future.

Long Lost Family returns tonight at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.