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A homeless man has been reunited with his North East family after appealing to them in a video that has gone viral.

Simon Easton, 25, spoke in it of how he had beaten drugs, given up crime and was ready to “put things right” with his loved ones in Washington , Tyne and Wear, who he hadn’t seen for seven years.

After more than 425k Facebook views in less than 24 hours, the young man was reunited with his family on Tuesday night.

Thousands of people flooded the comment section with encouragement and Simon was given a job with an installation company from a generous man who wanted to help him get back on his feet.

Volunteers from Leeds Tent City drove Simon from Leeds to Washington in order for him to be reunited with his loved ones and filmed Simon’s reunion with his mother.

Once Simon sees his mam, they embrace in a hug and barely let go of each other throughout the video.

His mam said to the camera: “Thank you very much.”

She added to Simon: “I just hope you are going to stay.”

From donations to Leeds Tent City, £40 was used to get Simon home and buy him a phone so he could stay in contact with the group.

Hayden Lee, from Leeds Tent City, said: “Simon is a fantastic lad and this is absolutely amazing.”

Simon’s original plea to his family was recorded by David Hedley, founder of the Homeless Leeds Support Group, on Tuesday.

Mr Hedley, who formed the group last winter, wanted the footage to go viral in order to help track down Simon’s estranged family.

In the original video to his family Simon says: “I am still here, I am still alive, I have stopped all the drugs and all the crime,

“I love you all, mam and dad, my two sisters. I have been away for a long time, I would like to link back up and say hello.

“I really do love you mam, there hasn’t been a day that I haven’t missed you. I have done a lot of bad things in my life and I am willing to try and correct that now.

“There has been a lot of ups and downs, but I want to correct them, I want to let you know that I love you I want to put that right, please pass the message on.”