A grandfather has spoken of how his life changed forever after he was snatched from a train as a baby – as he meets his brother decades on in a tearful reunion.
Peter Macdonald, 58, was just 10 weeks old when his mother fled to London with him and his brother Trevor Schwartz, who was two years old, to escape their father.
But his father managed to catch the train in time at Preston Railway Station and snatched Peter from his mothers arms. He never saw his mother again.
Before he was even six months old, Peter’s father placed him in foster care, alone and away from his entire family.
The widowed painter and decorator, who lives in Accrington, Lancashire, said: ‘My father grabbed me off my mother.
‘I was in her arms, I was two-and-a-half months old. I’ve never seen my mother again. That was the last time I was with my brother Trevor. I’ve always wanted to find him.’
Trevor was standing behind his mother and couldn’t be reached before the train went off.
His lifelong search for Trevor came to fruition when his daughter Chloe wrote to the ITV show Long Lost Family.
Peter Macdonald (right) has spoken of how his life changed forever after he was snatched from a train as a baby – as he meets his brother Trevor Schwartz decades on in a tearful reunion
The 58-year-old’s lifelong search has come to an end thanks to ITV show Long Lost Family. Pictured with host Davina McCall
Pictured: Long Lost Family host Nicky Campbell with Trevor
They searched for anyone with the same name and the middle initial E (for Edward) born in 1963. One of three possible matches replied, saying he grew up knowing about a younger brother called Peter, and lived in London.
But his mother sadly passed away 17 years ago in 2008.
In an emotional reunion, due to be aired this week, Trevor reveals that before their mother died, she told him: ‘Find Peter’.
Both men appear tearful and are shocked by the family resemblance.
Peter said in the documentary: ‘My father grabbed me off my mother. I was in her arms, I was two-and-a-half months old. I’ve never seen my mother again. That was the last time I was with my brother Trevor. I’ve always wanted to find him.
‘Hearing that Trevor had been found… I’ve never taken drugs in my life, but it felt like I’d just had a load of drugs. Everything was just ‘wow’. It was amazing. I can’t explain it.’
Trevor, 61, a carpenter who lives with his partner in East London, said: ‘My mother didn’t speak about him a great deal but when she did speak about him she often wondered how he was.
‘When my mum got very ill, she started to talk a lot more, open up a lot more. You could see it in her face when she spoke about it. She always said she regretted it, not going back for him.
‘She never forgot you…She did say to me: “Find him, look for him”. A week or so later she passed away.’
He added she had told him she was sorry for never looking for Peter.
Trevor was struck to find Peter looks a lot like their mother, as the 58-year-old noted his daughter bares a strong resemblance to her.
Peter and Trevor’s birth mother on Long Lost Family
Peter said he found out he was fostered when he was seven years old, but it was when he was around 14 that he started to get curious about his birth family.
The now 58-year-old also saw some documents referring to a boy named Trevor a couple of years older than him, and decided to track down his father in order to find his brother.
He says there was ‘no chemistry’ and his father, who is now dead, didn’t know where his brother was, but told him what happened on the day that changed his life forever.
Peter said: ‘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 have been the way I wanted it to be. With Trevor.’
