A MISSING Hampshire man has been reunited with his family in the early hours of this morning after a major search was launched to find him.

Alex Batchelor, who has Downs' Syndrome and learning disabilities, went missing yesterday afternoon when he failed to get his lift to his Stubbington home from Highbury College, in Cosham.

Concerned for his safety, officers were joined by members of the public to search for the 25-year-old and spread the news on social networking sites.

It was this awareness that finally led to two women in Eastbourne who spotted Alex at a bus stop at around 2.45am, having seen his details on the Hampshire Constabulary website, and went over to him.

Inspector Dean Gower said: “We are hugely relieved that he has been found safely as we were very worried about his safety.

“We are also very grateful to everybody that turned out to help us look for him and to all those people who helped spread news of his disappearance on various social networking sites.”