Ex-drug addict Sergey, 31 - who is HIV positive and served eight years in jail for murder – will agree to the 'Rocket Man' singer becoming guardian of his son if he also helps him start a new life in the UK.

He said: "I'm not against the idea of Elton becoming a guardian. I would be willing to meet him and talk about it.

'I don't mind my boy going to Britain to be with Elton – as long as I can go too, so I can take care of him.'

Sergey's comments come a day after 15-month-old Lev's mother, Marina – a HIV positive alcoholic who lives apart from Sergey – said she would never give her son to Elton, 62, for money.

Marina insists she wants to get her life back on track and raise him herself.

Lev and his brother Artyom, three, were both taken to an orphanage in the town of Makeyevka after their parents were deemed unfit to look after them.

Shoemaker Sergey believes his family could be reunited.

He added to Britain's The Sun newspaper: 'I know Elton is a rich man. Maybe he could help Marina and me and the boys get an apartment so we could be a family again.

"That would be ideal. And if Elton could buy me a shoe shop, that would be great."

Under Ukrainian law, adoptive parents must be no more than 45 years older than an adopted child - Elton is more than 60 years older than Lev.

Same-sex couples are also forbidden from adopting because homosexual marriages are not recognised in the Eastern European country.