A LONG-LOST father has saved his wayward son from jail after the pair were reunited after almost 20 years.

Brendan Devlin found troubled criminal Daniel, the teenager he last saw as a six-month-old baby, after reading about one of his court appearances in the Lancashire Telegraph.

Mr Devlin, a former entertainer, lost touch with his son when his relationship with his ex-girlfriend - Daniel's mother - broke down and he moved abroad.

But after moving back home to Darwen due to ill health, Mr Devlin went to find his son at the bail hostel in Preston New Road, Blackburn, where he was staying.

And the 58-year-old, who has vowed to keep Daniel, 19, on the straight and narrow, made an emotional plea to a crown court judge and successfully saved him from prison.

He was given a 12 month jail term, suspended for two years, with two years' supervision and 100 hours unpaid work, after he admitted burgling a 79-year-old woman's home in the Accrington area and possessing an offensive weapon taken from a garden shed.

Mr Devlin told Judge Barbara Watson how he wanted to make up for lost time and be a part of Daniel's life.

After the hearing he said he felt sick when he read how, in another case, his son had deliberately thrown a cup at a window because he wanted to return to prison.

Mr Devlin, of Leven Grove, said he hoped Daniel would go and live with him so they could plan a future. He said: "He's not really had a life. I felt sick that he was in court more or less because I wasn't around."

Daniel, who said he left the Blackburn home he shared with his mother a few years ago, has since been in care and lived on the streets in Blackburn and Hyndburn.

The self-confessed "teenager from hell" said it was "indescribable" to be with his dad, who he thought he would never see again.

Burnley Crown Court heard how Daniel, who has a criminal record for burglary and theft, was now beginning to change his ways and mature.

Sentencing, the judge said it was delightful Mr Devlin had reappeared in the defendant's life.

Judge Watson, who had noted how Devlin smiled in the dock when his father was mentioned, continued: "It has made me smile too. The courts very rarely see anything that's nice. It's quite heart warming."

The judge said that although Daniel had had a difficult and troubled life it was no excuse for what he had done.

But she said it would not be in the public interest to send him to prison.

Mr Devlin, who said he believed drink or drugs had ruined his son's head, had told the judge: "I never stopped loving him.

"He has been staying with me over the weekend and its been tremendous.

"He helps me, gets my medication and makes me cups of tea.

"I have had three heart attacks and am also a diabetic and find it hard getting about.

"If I had not seen his name in the newspaper I would still be wondering where he was."