WHEN he was found asleep in the toilets of one of the world’s busiest airports as a newborn baby, no one knew who he was, or how he came to be there.

More than 28 years later, it’s still a mystery to Steven Hydes, the man known as Gary Gatwick.

The then newborn had been found abandoned in a toilet at Gatwick Airport with two baby grows (onsies) and three blankets. He was around 10 days old.

The date was April 10, 1986 and the airport, located outside London, was a hive of activity when he was found in the ladies toilets.

Now 28 and with two young children of his own, the man who became known was Gary Gatwick is desperate to find the woman who abandoned him.

And despite a search which began nine years ago and plenty of publicity overseas, the landscape gardener from West Sussex is still no closer to finding her.

But it’s something that remains important to him and with Australia’s large British population, Mr Hydes is hoping someone here may know something so he can fill in the missing pieces of his life.

“It’s important to know my heritage as I feel like I have a missing part in my life the vast majority of people know the beginning of their lives and I would like to know mine,” he said.

Mr Hyde said he’s not angry at being abandoned but simply wanted to know who he was and who his mother was.

“If I had the chance to find and meet my birth mother, although I would feel speechless at first I would like to thank her for coming forward and I would like her to fill in the missing pieces,” he told news.com.au.

“I would want her know that I have nothing against her and what happened was in the past as life is too short and it’s the future that makes it.

“I would also like to fill her in that I have had a great life and that she has two grandchildren that she is missing out on.”

Mr Hydes said the search for his mother became even more important after meeting partner Sammy and having children Alanna, 7 and Kian, 2.

“So many people say my children look like me which makes me think, who do I look like?” he said.

“And where do I get my genes from that I gave to my children?”

When he was found, he was nicknamed Gary Gatwick after the airport’s mascot bear.

The media and police appealed for his mother to come forward, but unfortunately there were no leads and at six months old he was adopted by Sandra and John Hydes.

The couple thought they couldn’t have children of their own and shortly after adopting their son, went on to have three daughters of their own.

They have always been supportive of his decision to find his biological mother.

“I had a great childhood where my parents were always honest with me from as early as I can remember,” he said.

“They would regularly sit me down and show me the baby book that they had made up for me which has photos and newspaper clippings in so I have grown up always knowing the truth of what happened to me back in 1986.”

Mr Hydes still has the book and sits down with his own daughter and is open with her about his story.

His parents even kept Gary as a middle name and it’s something he passed down to his own son.

“The name Gary Gatwick was the start of my life that I know of and I wanted this to carry on into my family,” he said.

“I still use Gary Gatwick for media and my Facebook page as that is what the public knows me as.”

Mr Hydes said it was entirely possible someone in Australia knew his mother or knew their story and if so appealed for them to contact him.

“There could be a chance that someone in Australia may know something of my past as I was abandoned in an airport and don’t know where I came from (so) my biological family could be residing anywhere in the world,” he said.

For now Mr Hydes will keep holding hope that his biological mother will contact him, or someone out there can provide a clue as to who she is.

Until that time comes, he remains focused on his own family and hopes one day he’ll find the woman who left him warm, and asleep in a busy airport toilet.

Do you know who Steven Hydes is, or where his biological mother could be?

Contact him at Gary Gatwick airport baby abandoned or email garygatwick1986@hotmail.co.uk