Bulletin helps reunite father and son

Tomorrow, Jon Goodwin and his long lost Majorcan father, Lorenzo Miralles will be re-united after 35 years after Jon's wife Tania mounted a last ditch attempt to find Jon's father by contacting the Bulletin two months ago. As the New Year's celebrations came to a close, Tania admitted yesterday that she had lost all hope of ever finding her husband's long lost father; that was only 15 minutes after Lorenzo Miralles's boss had contacted her to set up a meeting and it transpires that he lives “just four junctions down the motorway” from Jon and Tania in Leicester. Lorenzo last saw Jon, born Stuart Neil Young in 1967, just a few months after his mother Heather Young gave birth. As the couple were not married, the child had to be put up for adoption, despite Lorenzo's efforts to bring him back to Majorca. But Social Services laid down the law and that was the end of it. But, Lorenzo's brother saw the story in the Bulletin, cut the article out and sent it to Lorenzo in England where he works as a chef. Yesterday morning his boss, restaurateur Hillary Barlow contacted the Bulletin on Lorenzo's behalf asking for his long lost son's telephone number. “He's an excellent chef and has been living and working just around the corner from his son for the past 30 years, but his English is not great and he's too emotional to talk to anyone at the moment,” she said. “When he received the newspaper the other day, he could not contain himself and he can not stop crying with joy.” Hillary contacted Tania. “Jon was driving down the M1, I called him on the mobile and told him to pull over,” she said yesterday. “...then I told him the news and that we had arranged to meet on Saturday, I was gobsmacked when I received the call but Jon could not hold back the tears.” “I still can not believe it, after two years I had honestly given up all hope of finding Jon's father,” Tania said. Lorenzo's boss Hillary can not quite believe the situation either and is beside herself with joy. “He's a wonderful chef and has remained single all his life, but his command of English is not too great,” she said yesterday. The irony of it all is that father and son, despite not having seen each other for the best part of 30 years (Jon did not even find out he was adopted until a couple of years ago), have been living within 30 minutes drive of each other for the better part of their lives.