A man has told a court how he has nothing but love for the couple accused of kidnapping him when he was a baby.

Matthew Propp discovered the truth about his past last year but does not not believe that his 'adoptive' parents Barry and Judith Smiley have done anything morally wrong.

"I sort of came to the conclusion...that they felt what they had done was in my best interest, and it showed how much they truly cared about me," he said.

His father was appearing before a court in New York charged with kidnapping him when he was 15 months old.

Barry Smiley, and his wife Judith, had raised Matthew from three days old but fled with him to New Mexico in 1980 after a judge annulled their adoption of the boy on the grounds that his birth mother had not given her full consent.

The couple, who had both worked for the New York city council, changed their names to Bennett and Mary Propp, stealing the identity and Social Security number of another council employee and successfully raised Matthew as their own.

He had a normal upbringing - growing up into a polite young man who joined a volunteer fire department and applied for a job as a police officer - until last July when the Smileys told him the truth about his real identity.

On March 8 - Matthew's 22nd birthday - Barry Smiley surrendered to police in New York. His wife plans to surrender when she has recovered from knee replacement surgery and is well enough to travel.

If convicted of kidnap, they face up to 25 years in prison. But Smiley's lawyer is hopeful that his client will escape with probation.

At this week's hearing, the judge allowed Barry Smiley to return home to Albuquerque, in New Mexico. The next hearing is on April 25.

Matthew has said he hopes the case could be resolved quickly so he could resume a "normal life".

A week before his father's surrender, Matthew met his birth father, Anthony Russini, for the first time in 20 years. He said he had sympathy for his biological parents, who had spent thousands of pounds on a fruitless search for their son.

"They're good people and I hope that from here on in we can establish a bond and a relationship," said Matthew.