The sister I never knew I had lived seven miles away; AFTER 50 YEARS APART STUNNED BROTHER FINDS HIS FAMILY

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), March 24, 2008

Byline: By ADAM JUPP Chief Reporter

FOR decades Danny Riley thought he was an only child.

Meanwhile, his sister Maureen believed he was thousands of miles away in Australia.

But all along, they were living just seven miles apart and now the pair have met for the first time.

More than 50 years after being adopted, parcel delivery driver Danny was stunned to be told he had eight biological siblings and set to work to try to find them.

After years of searching, Danny, aged 59, learned Maureen lived in Newcastle's West End and eventually traced her.

Today the delighted pair told how they hit it off straight away. Danny, a father of three grown-up daughters, said: "I had grown up thinking I had no brothers or sisters and by the age of 12 I assumed my natural parents had died.

"To find out after all those years that I had a family was a huge shock and I'm still coming to terms with it now."

Maureen, aged 47, said: "I had been told he had been adopted and was living in Australia so when he got in touch, I could not believe it. But now we've met and he's my brother and he's here to stay."

Danny relived how he learned of the family he never knew existed. He said: "It wasn't until two and a half years ago when one of my adoptive parents' biological daughters, my step-sister, told me. It was shock to find out."

After learning he had blood relatives on Tyneside, Danny got hold of his birth certificate and also signed-up to a Government website that helps separated family members find to each other.

This led to him getting in contact with one of his sisters, who told him he had siblings born to parents Jimmy and Phyllis, who met in the last war. Geordie-born Jimmy was a soldier posted to India where he met his bride and brought her back to Tyneside.

Danny was born in Bensham Hospital, Gateshead, in 1948 but was separated from his brothers and sisters. One brother and two sisters had been born before him, while three sisters and two brothers were born after him.

He added: "I had no idea how we became separated. I have since found out there was four of us and three went into a convent, while I was left in an orphanage. I was fostered until I was eight, then adopted and never told of my family.

"When one of my sisters contacted me we met and she told me I had eight brothers and sisters. It was a huge shock. It was a case of trying to meet them one by one."

Danny's siblings were told by their mother he had been adopted by a doctor and was in Australia, where he too was a doctor.

But all along he had grown up with his adoptive parents in Low Fell, where he took over his father's butchers shop on Gateshead High Street, before retiring from that and becoming a delivery driver.

One by one, he tracked down his eight brothers and sisters but Maureen, who had grown up in James Street, Elswick, Newcastle, was the latest.

Danny, who went to Gateshead Grammar School, said: "Meeting Maureen was purely by chance. By this time I had met the others but it is still a weird feeling."

Maureen, 46, said: "I had been told he was in Australia and had been adopted by a doctor. He has been over a few times and I have met his daughters and his wife and I have been over to his house. He is my brother and he's here to stay."

Danny added: "I found out my mother was alive until 1997, which means I could have met her."

"I had been told he had been adopted and was living in Australia so when he got in touch, I could not believe it. He's my brother and he's here to stay.

CAPTION(S):

TOGETHER AGAIN: Danny Riley and his sister Maureen who are now reunited after more than 50 years of being apart PICTURE:ANDY COMMINS www.icNewcastle.co.uk/buyaphoto ref: 01273762