Beaming Australian father Ken Thompspon has finally been reunited with his six-year-old son Andreww in Amsterdam after a two-and-a-half-year search.
The former NSW deputy fire chief met with his son for an emotional 40-minute reunion overnight in the Dutch city, the first time Mr Thompson had seen his son since April 2008 - when the boy was taken overseas by his mother Melinda Stratton.
Andrew came to the attention of Amsterdam police more than a week ago after a tip-off from a family frien and his mother Melinda Stratton was arrested the following day.
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A team of Dutch psychologists prepared father and son for their emotional meeting and the 57-year-old told News Ltd papers it was a nerve-racking wait to see Andrew who gave him a smile straight away.
Thompson says they played a board game puzzle together and Andrew slowly opened up.
He's now waiting for Dutch childcare experts and psychologists to organise further meetings.
Dutch prosecutors say they "don't see any major obstacles" to the extradition of Melinda Stratton to Australia, where she's expected to face criminal charges - although Thompson told ABC TV he has never wanted her to go to jail.
After Andrew went missing, Mr Thompson retired to cycle across Europe and drum up a media campaign to find his son.
He covered 6500 kilometres across nine countries over three months.
