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Swiss couple claim forest boy may be their lost grandson

Allan Hall
Saturday 08 October 2011 00:00 BST
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A Swiss couple claim the mysterious "forest boy", who says he spent five years living rough in a wood, may be their grandson.

It is understood that the pair have consented to a DNA test that will be compared with that of the teenager who walked into a town hall in Berlin last month.

But it is not clear if the young man, who calls himself Ray, will consent to the test. In the weeks he has been in the care of authorities in Germany, he has been reluctant to provide help in finding out who he is. Berlin's B.Z. newspaper reported that Ray's photo was seen by the couple in Switzerland, who then contacted police. There was no comment from authorities in Berlin.

Although he spoke broken German and good but accented English, police suspect he may be from a non-EU country and have trekked across Poland and through the border without a passport check.

The blond, blue-eyed boy claimed to remember little about his life. He said he had been living in a tent in a forest for five years with his father, Ryan, and that his mother, Doreen, had died in a car crash five years ago.

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