Mother breaks down in tears as she meets son for first time in 51 years – and reveals heart-wrenching reason she walked out on him at just five years old

A mother breaks down in tears as she meets her son for the first time in 51 years and reveals the heartbreaking reason why she abandoned her son when he was just five, in the upcoming episode of Long Lost Family.

The 15th series of the hit ITV series, in which Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell try to reunite their loved ones, returns to our screens on Thursday evening.

Thursday’s episode of the show sees Davina helping car salesman Alan Parker, 56, now living in County Meath, Ireland, reunite with his mother, who abandoned him and his brother and sister with their father in Reading years ago.

Alan says of his mother and father’s relationship: ‘It wasn’t always easy to get along with my father. I think that’s what turned it into such a bad relationship.’

So she contacts Long Lost Family to hear her mother’s side of the ‘story’ and re-establish a relationship with her.

The team manages to contact his mother, Anne, through a distant relative, and Anne reveals the real reason why she had to leave.

In Thursday’s episode of the programme, Davina will help 56-year-old car salesman Alan Parker, now living in County Meath, Ireland, reunite with his mother 51 years after she abandoned him, his brother and sister with their father in Reading.

Alan wanted to find his mother and find out the real reason why his mother abandoned him and his two siblings.

Alan tells Davina: ‘I really want to know what he’s been doing for the last 51 years and I want to know if he’s happy.

‘But I don’t even know if my mother is still alive.’

Anne, who had considered contacting him in the past but gave up, admits that she had to leave because ‘the situation was not good’.

She says: ‘He wasn’t happy and it got to the point where I thought it was safer for me not to be there.

‘I had a recliner and it was too small. There is no room for small children.

‘What I had always hoped to do was work things out and then have children but within a year he had moved away and I had no idea where he was going.

‘No one explains this.’

Even though they haven’t seen each other in years and Alan admits he doesn’t remember what his mother looks like, their mother-son dynamic still seems strong.

The mother says to her son: ‘Let’s get to know each other better. It doesn’t feel like I don’t know you.

Alan was photographed with the show’s presenter Davina McCall, who helped him find his mother after 51 years

‘This bond went on and on.

‘I got my son back.’

The Long Lost Family first hit our screens in 2011.

Series 15 was first broadcast in September last year.

Fans will be delighted to know that the second half of the series will return on Thursday.

The fifth, sixth and seventh episodes of the season will air over three consecutive weeks.

In October last year, ITV ran an advert asking if anyone was looking for a missing family member and if they would like to take part in the programme.

The ad reads: ‘Imagine meeting your twin sister for the first time at the age of 60, seeing the father you never knew, or being reunited with the son you gave up for adoption the day he was born.

‘Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell present this engaging and moving documentary series.

‘The program will follow the stories of people who, for one reason or another, have been separated from family members for long periods of time and seek to reunite with them.

‘The program hopes to help people who are struggling to find enough information to get closer to reunification.

‘The program will aim to track down missing relatives and follow the stories from search to reunion.’

Watch Long Lost Family on Thursday at 9pm on ITV1 or stream it on ITVX.