Madonna has finally won her drawn-out battle to adopt David Banda, after a Malawian judge approved her application to make the African toddler her son.

The ruling at Malawi's High Court on Wednesday has put an end to a 20-month-long saga which began in October 2006, when Madonna and her director husband Guy Ritchie brought Banda back to the U.K. from a Malawian orphanage. At the time, the tot was just 13 months old.

And the couple is delighted with the happy news.

Madonna's lawyer Alan Chinula says: "We are very happy with what the judge has ruled. It is a positive and beautiful judgment that will have an impact on Malawi's adoption laws.

"Finally the court has granted Madonna full adoption rights of the boy - it's a long judgement but I am quite happy with it."

Madonna's adoption of Banda has been highly controversial, attracting accusations the impoverished nation's government had bypassed laws that ban non-residents from adopting children in Malawi.