Strictly Greg’s son was abducted to become child soldier before living on street

Greg Wise is a proud father to two beautiful children, his 21-year-old daughter Gaia Wise and his son Tindyebwa Agaba Wise, 33.

But his eldest child, Tindy suffered unimaginable horrors as a child including kidnapping and radicalisation before he was brought to the UK and adopted into the famous family.

The Strictly Come Dancing star and his fellow actress wife Emma Thompson informally adopted Tindy back in 2003 at the age of 16, just months after they tied the knot.

Now, the Rwanda-native has been able to take control of his life and works intimately with the police to help other refugees who have suffered similarly to him.

The loving older brother started life overseas in Rwanda where his biological father sadly passed away from AIDs when he was just nine years old.

And things sadly went from bad to worse for Tindy after soldiers stormed his village and kidnapped him at 12-years-old where he and his three sisters marched through the wilderness for days.

Shortly after their kidnapping, his sisters went missing. The trio have never been found since, and are now presumed murdered by the abusive militia soldiers who took them.

Reflecting on his time overseas, Tindy recalled how he was kept in a prison camp for more than three years where he was radicalised and trained as a child soldier in preparation for battle.

Luckily, he managed to escape at the age of 16 thanks to Care International, where he was able to board a flight to London and claim asylum.

But Tindy still struggled to find a stable home for himself when he settled into England, and explained how he slept rough on the streets of London near Trafalgar Square before he met Oscar-winning actress Emma.

The pair first connected at a refugee council event and decided to keep in touch after the party where they built up a strong friendship.

And their relationship continued to blossom over the years as she kindly offered to help him to get back on his feet and even invited him over for a Christmas Eve dinner.

Speaking at the time, Tindy admitted: “I wondered, What does she want?’” before he visited the happy couple at their £15 million house in North London.

When he visited them for the festive meal, the teenager was unable to speak more than a few words of English when he was first introduced to her husband and biological daughter Gaia.

Nonetheless, he was given his own room at their house and the family unit soon got along like a house on fire as visiting weekends quickly turned into weeks at a time before his “informal” adoption.

Because Tindy was over the age of 16, Emma and Greg left the decision up to Tindy as to whether or not he would like to join the family, but without hesitation he soon moved in to their family home permanently.

Emma has since opened up about her decision to formally adopt Tindy, and explained: “Sometimes being friends is not enough.

“You need family. I think we don’t talk enough about the happiness that it gives you to find new connections with strangers and people who aren’t familiar to you.”

Once he was fully engrained in the family, Tindy went on to study at Exeter University where he completed a degree in politics.

Unfortunately, he fell victim to sickening racist abuse while he studied, which the Nany McPhee star described as “unpleasant experiences” in 2012.

She explained: “Exeter is very white and middle-class and needs to be cracked open a bit.”

But that didn’t stop him from graduating and now boasts two degrees and speaks an incredible eight languages thanks to his extensive education in the UK.

Tindyebwa has since started working with a specialist group within the Metropolitan Police where he focuses on humanitarian effort and aid in order to help other refugees like him.

At the time Greg proudly boasted of his son’s new role, as he shared on social media: “Tindy is just about to start a job there and he’s doing some very interesting things for them – an adjunct of the work he was doing in war zones.

“Helping struggling people, working with victims of trafficking and radicalisation … that kind of thing. It's a very rewarding thing to have happened.”

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