The emotional parents of a man missing for six years have spoken on live TV of how they could finally be reunited with their son.

Matthew Green disappeared in April 2010 after telling his parents he was going to London to meet friends.

After years of desperately searching for their son, now 32, parents Jim and Pauline, of Sittingbourne, were told earlier this month by Kent Police he had been found alive.

But joy turned to frustration when they were told that, due to data protection laws, they couldn't be put in touch with him and that all they could know was that he was "somewhere in Europe".

Speaking on ITV's This Morning today, they told how they believed he was suffering from mental illness and they needed to be in contact with him.

But in a dramatic twist, the pair revealed a medic who claimed he was treating Matthew had been in touch this morning.

He told them he was in a mental health unit in Spain, and that he was refusing help.

Doctors have asked Matt's parents to go out and see him, and bring his medical records.

The revelation was the culmination of years of torment for Matt and his family.

The couple told presenters Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield the family's nightmares began years earlier when Matt was accused of a serious crime he didn't commit.

A girl had alleged rape, but she later admitted she had made it all up.

But the false allegation set him off on a downward spiral.

Matt started drinking and taking cannabis. He stopped socialising and stayed in his room.

In 2008 he was diagnosed with psychotic paranoia, the pair told the programme.

It was just two years later that the troubled young man disappeared for six years.

Matt's mum Pauline told how the rollercoaster of emotions from the last few days peaked with an email from someone claiming to be a medic treating their son in Spain.

She said: "This person texted me last night and it was a Spanish number. He or she said they needed to contact me.

"They said 'I am trying to send an email, but it's not successful. I sent him my email address and heard nothing, so I went to bed.

"Just after 5am I thought I would see if this person had tried to contact and that's when I saw this email."

She said it proved the power of the media.

It is not known what plans the couple have for going over to Spain for a reunion with Matt.