An 11-year-old boy who had been missing for almost a fortnight was yesterday having "lengthy" interviews with police and social workers before being returned to his family, police said.
John Doherty, whose family are originally from Derry, was found safe and well at an address in Hackney, north London, on Monday night. His grandparents, John and Annie Doherty of Eglinton, Co Derry, spoke of their great relief at the news of his safe return.
"It is better than winning the lottery," Mr Doherty said.
Officers from John's present home town of Aldershot, Hampshire, have been questioning a man and woman arrested at the address about his disappearance.
A spokeswoman for the Hampshire police force said the youngster had been found because of the huge publicity given to the case.
"It is clear he was found as a result of the publicity and we would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who carried the story," she said.
John was discovered after a 12-day police operation begun after he disappeared from a health centre near his Hampshire home.
He was seen twice on closed-circuit television cameras after vanishing, at Aldershot railway station and later at London's Waterloo on July 22nd, where he was seen with a second boy thought to be about 14.
Police had stepped up their hunt to find John by touring London with a giant mobile poster campaign. Millions of Londoners and tourists were asked to look at the poster as it toured the capital's busy West End.
The six-foot picture was an enlarged image taken from the video footage of John at Waterloo.
The mobile display began from Waterloo and toured central London before moving on to Guildford in Surrey and to Aldershot.