A WOMAN has been reunited with her son 27 years after he was abducted – by finding him on Facebook.

The family of Gavin Paros had spent years trying to trace him without success after he was taken to Hungary by his father at the age of three.

After swapping messages, mum Avril Grube, 62, was overjoyed when he announced he would immediately come to England and see her.

The pair have held an emotional reunion and Gavin, 30, has already pledged to move his own family here to live permanently.

Mrs Grube, from Poole, who is also waiting to meet her three grandchildren for the first time, said: “It is the happiest day of my life. There are almost no words possible to describe it.”

Mrs Grube was married to Gavin’s father in the late 1970s, but they split when he was a toddler. She was given custody and Mr Paros had weekend visitation rights.

On one visit in 1982 he said he was taking his son to the zoo but instead took him on a plane to Budapest, where they disappeared.

Mrs Grube was in regular contact with the British and Hungarian Embassies in both countries, as well as her MP, and even took her case to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

She almost gave up hope of seeing Gaving again until her sister Beryl Wilson tapped his name into Facebook last October.

She sent him a number of messages urging him to get into contact, but he didn’t check his Facebook site for weeks and has only recently responded.

Last Christmas Mrs Grube, who has another son and two grown-up daughters, had a bad stroke and now struggles to speak.

Mrs Wilson, 59, from Liverpool, said: “I called my sister when I heard back from Gavin and told her to sit down as I had some news for her. All I heard after that was screaming.

“My sister is on cloud nine. It was extremely emotional when they saw each other again, as you can imagine. They have been hugging, really, really happy.”

Gavin doesn’t speak English but has been able to say that he is now married with three children and is a plasterer.

He also said that his father died in 2006 and he loved him very much.