London kidnapping: One-year-old girl found 'safe and well' after going missing when uncle's car was stolen

'I feel I am a new guy. I feel over 1,000-times relief,' Maria's uncle says

A one-year-old girl whose disappearance sparked an urgent police search when her uncle's car was stolen has been found "safe and well".

Maria Tudorica was in the front passenger seat when her father met with an unknown man to arrange selling a car in Manor Park, east London, on behalf of his brother on Sunday afternoon.

The man got in the vehicle and drove away.

The car, a black Audi A5, was later found abandoned nearby in Hatherway Crescent in Newham without the child inside.

But in a statement at 8pm, the Metropolitan Police said Maria had been found in Ruskin Avenue, less than half a mile from where the car was abandoned.

"Thanks to media and all members of the public who have helped with this appeal," it added.

Her car trader uncle, Gheorghe Stelica, said he felt "born again" after learning she had been located.

Earlier that day, he had asked his brother, 35-year-old Claudia Stelica, to show the car - listed on Gumtree for £4,650 - to the prospective buyer as a favour because he was out of London.

"I put the car on sale today and one guy called me on my phone," the trader said.

"He didn't seem suspicious on the phone, he was talking very nicely. I said to him, 'If you don't want to wait for me, no problem'."

The father met the stranger outside his brother's home in Nine Acres Close and placed the girl in the black car as he demonstrated the engine. But then the supposed customer asked to try it.

"He jumped up in the driver's side and - boom - straight away he went with the car," Gheorghe Stelica said.

Teacher Nazneen Saleh, a 25-year-old visiting her parents in the street, said a woman she believed was Maria's grandmother was in a "frenzy".

Scotland Yard, however, announced at 8pm that she had been found "safe and well" in the nearby Ruskin Avenue area.

"God bless," the 25-year-old uncle told PA. "I feel born again."

He continued: "I feel over 1,000-times relief. (My brother) he's happy. He thanks so much the police for their service."

Police did not say whether they had apprehended a suspect.

Additional reporting by PA