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An Australian man who went missing 16 years ago has amazingly been found sleeping rough in the Midlands.

Jason Ronald Douglas, 36, is currently living in a homeless shelter in Walsall.

His life fell apart after uncle Tim Andrews, with whom he lived with in the UK, died of a heart attack while playing football in 1999.

Jason decided to stay in the UK and was living in Milton Keynes, Bucks., when he lost contact with his family aged just 21 in 2000.

He thought they had given up on him - but they were desperately trying to find him.

After a Facebook plea they tracked down Jason and this week he and sister Sally, 38, chatted.

Cousin Lisa Andrews said Sally and his mum Kim “had spent so many years upset” and that speaking with him was "the best feeling in the world" for them.

They are raising cash to fly him home to Brisbane.

Lisa, 36, said: “He was extremely close with my dad [Tim] so his death hit him really hard and he sort of fell apart.

“Over the years we heard he was staying with friends but then we moved and he moved and we just lost each other.

“We couldn’t find him anywhere.

“The worst was watching his sister Sally and his mum at Christmas and on his birthday - they were just in absolute bits.”

The family had contacted police over in the UK and found out Jason had got himself into trouble - but they weren’t given any further details.

So they started up a Facebook page and tried to share his picture in case anyone had spotted him.

Lisa added: “The saddest thing is he thought we had given up on him.

“We were desperately trying to find him but we weren’t sure if he wanted to speak to us so we were just asking people to let us know he was alive.

“We just wanted to know he was alive because the family were broken, they had spent so many years upset.”

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Finally Lisa was told how Jason could be in the West Midlands so they contacted as many homeless shelters as they could in the area.

Then they were told the amazing news that someone had a contact number for him and he was actually living in Walsall.

Sally, his only sibling, has been on the phone to Jason for hours since finally tracking him down.

The last he knew he just had one niece, Jakisah, but now he has four more which he has never met.

Now his relatives have set up a Go Fund Me page as they desperately need cash to buy a birth certificate, passport and flights back home to Brisbane.

Lisa added: “It’s Jason’s birthday next month so if we can get him home by March 12 that would be absolutely amazing.”

To donate to the fund visit https://www.gofundme.com/jmn2ayjd