A young boy and his dad have been reunited after more than a year – just in time for Christmas.

Max Bagnall, eight, from Rochester, had not seen dad Alex, since his mum, Jolanta Majda, took him to her home country of Poland.

Despite a Polish court ruling in March that Max should be returned to his father, it has taken until now for the two to be reunited.

His family this week travelled to Poland and Max was brought back home on Wednesday.

His grandfather, Andrew Bagnall, said: “We had gone to Poland to follow up on the authorities’ leads but no progress was made.

“However at the last minute we located Max and his mother in a location a six-and-a-half hours drive from their home region.”

Mr Bagnall said the family then had to dash across Poland to secure documents from the British Embassy to allow Max to travel back on the last flight of the evening.

He said: “Max was obviously upset as he clearly had missed his father but he is well, happy and glad to be back, which is all we could wish for. My heart goes out to families in similar situations who are not as lucky as our own.

“We are just relieved that Max is healthy and well and still the same little boy we lost in August 2015, albeit a little bigger.

“The smile is still the same, and we are happy that he is home.

“Hopefully the dark days are behind us and Max and his father can rebuild their lives.

“Contrary to everything that has gone on, we firmly believe as a family that children need both parents to be proactive and play a positive part in their life.”

Mr Bagnall added: “We hope despite everything that a satisfactory agreement can be reached with Max’s Polish family to ensure that if they want to they can contribute to giving him the best life possible. We certainly will be.”

It is understood that Ms Majda has been arrested in Poland.