'I was so glad when he was found but it's gone from being such a feel-good thing to being murderously nasty. The son I found isn't the son I went out to look for.'

Neale, who is not well enough to fly, admitted there had been a tiff over money.

'I don't plan to get into a public slanging match with my father,' Neale said. 'Any issues I have with him I'll deal with in private.'

Cass, who reportedly walked out on his wife when Neale was 3, was an integral part of the story. Cass was waiting at Sydney airport for a flight home when he received a text message that the lad had been found.

He was rushed by helicopter to Neale's hospital bedside. Photos of their reunion were flashed around the world.