London  - A British man has been reunited with his father after spotting him by chance on a television "missing persons" appeal five years after he was told by police the septegenarian had died, the Daily Telegraph reported Thursday.

John Renehan was told by police in Manchester in 2003 that his father, John Delaney, had been found dead in bushes near the city's main hospital, and went ahead with cremating his body.

Police told Renehan at the time that the badly-decomposed body was that of his father who had gone missing three years earlier from a hostel in Manchester.

The man, then aged 71, had been found in a confused state in the city in April, 2000, and put into a care home where he was given a new name.

But in April this year, Delaney featured on a daytime television programme about missing persons. Subsequent DNA tests confirmed his identity and led to the happy reunion.

"I had just finished my night shift and was ready to go to sleep when I turned on the TV," Renehan told the Telegraph's online service.

"As I was turning away I got a glimpse of who I thought was my father. For the rest of the day I could not get to sleep. I was in shock."

Manchester police said in a statement that "mistakes" were made in the previous identification processes and the enquiries made in 2003 had not been sufficient.

"Greater Manchester Police accepts that mistakes were made and that Mr Delaney's family has been through a traumatic ordeal," it said.

Meanwhile, an investigation was under way to try to establish the identity of the man cremated in 2003. (dpa)