Man Snatched from Mom’s Arms as a Baby Meets Brother Decades Later

A British man has been reunited with his older brother decades after being snatched from his mother’s arms by his father when he was a baby as a train was about to depart.

House painter Peter Macdonald, 58, from Lancashire in the north-west of England, grew up in the foster system after his mom left his father when he was a baby, he recalled on the U.K. television show Long Lost Family, per a press release obtained by PEOPLE.

Peter’s mother went to the train station with him and his older brother, Trevor. However, when the train was about to leave, his father unexpectedly turned up on the platform and snatched Peter from his mom’s arms.

The train then pulled away and Peter never saw his mom and Trevor — who fled to London — again, despite him searching for his brother ever since he learned of his existence.

Peter was just 10 weeks old at the time, and Trevor was age 2, according to the Daily Mirror. They’d been getting on a train at Preston Railway Station when Peter’s dad reached inside the carriage window and attempted to take both children, but Trevor was standing behind his mother at the time and couldn’t be reached.

Peter, whose wife Julie died three years ago, was 7 years old when he learned of his brother’s existence, the outlet noted, and he’s been searching for him since.

“Trevor’s been on my mind for over 50 years,” Peter, who has two daughters and four grandchildren, said, per the paper. 

The show’s research team managed to find Trevor, who revealed that their mother died in 2008, the press release stated. 

Trevor, who met host Nicky Campbell in London, recalled of his mom wanting him to look for his younger sibling, “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 added, “I’m doing this for him, and for myself and for [mom], yeah. I think she’d be proud of me doing that. Can’t wait. I really can’t wait now.”

Trevor, a 61-year-old carpenter, insisted that his mom “was a very strict person” and “money was tight, it was hard,” per the Daily Mirror. 

“I knew about my brother. I’ve known about him since I was about nine or ten. My mother didn’t speak about him a great deal but when she did speak about him she often wondered how he was. [Mom] thought ‘Leave him where he is, he’s probably better off there,'” he said, according to the outlet.

“It’s like something you see in a film,” Trevor said of their father snatching Peter, but not being able to get to him.

After learning that the Long Lost Family team had found his brother, Peter broke down in tears before traveling to London for an emotional reunion. The siblings hadn’t seen one another in 50-plus years, before meeting on their late mother’s birthday, the press release noted.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

Peter — who was shown photos of their mother on the show and was shocked to see how much she looked like his daughters — shared, “Two brothers together at last. There is an automatic connection.”

Peter was adamant that the reunion wouldn’t be a one-off after introducing Trevor to his daughter and granddaughter.

“I’m going to be coming up or down to see him as often as I can,” Peter insisted.