Long Lost Family Season 14 Episode 3
Long Lost Family Season 14 Episode 3
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00:00I was told to pack my bags, leave the baby in the nursery and just go.
00:11This was my mum's dream to finally meet her siblings.
00:16Every year thousands of people come to us looking for missing family.
00:21I have got a brother out there somewhere.
00:25To find Christine would just mean everything.
00:30Sometimes it's to discover the truth about what really happened.
00:36To find out we were together, it breaks my heart.
00:41So imagine the moment...
00:42Hello?
00:43It's Davina.
00:44I'm about ten minutes away.
00:45Hello Nicky.
00:46When the answers finally come...
00:47Oh my gosh!
00:48Oh my god!
00:49Oh my god!
00:50Oh my god!
00:51Oh my god!
00:52Oh my god!
00:53Oh my god!
00:54Oh my god!
00:55Oh my god!
00:56Oh my god!
00:57Oh my god!
00:58Oh my god!
00:59She's always loved you and always will love you.
01:00They ain't got my height.
01:02In this series we discover extraordinary stories.
01:06I have felt an awful lot of guilt ever since I made the decision to do what I did.
01:12And find people that no one else could trace.
01:15They found my sister.
01:20uniting families who've spent a lifetime apart.
01:28I want to shout to everybody, I have met her.
01:43Our first searcher was a young teenager
01:45when she had her son.
01:46And even though she was still at school,
01:49she was certain that she could look after him.
01:53And now, more than 50 years later,
01:55she still feels the same way.
01:59He wasn't taken and then fostered straight away.
02:03I looked after him for that five weeks.
02:07Oh, it was lovely.
02:09You just got this little thing in your arms
02:11and he needs you and you need him and he's yours.
02:16And there's no one can take that away from you.
02:19He'll always be mine.
02:31Anyone got a joke?
02:32How do you raise a baby elephant?
02:35With a crane.
02:36With a forklift.
02:38Oh, I was nearly there.
02:4170-year-old Sue Stally lives in Bedford,
02:44around the corner from her grandchildren
02:46and her youngest daughter, Stephanie.
02:50My family means everything to me, all of my family.
02:53We do a lot of things together.
02:54Yeah, I love it.
02:55I'd be lost without them.
02:57What was your first lesson?
02:59French.
03:00Me and my brothers and sister,
03:03we didn't have a lot, but we had love.
03:05Mum made sure of that.
03:07And I think that matters.
03:09That goes a long way.
03:14Sue was a young teenager
03:15when she met her first boyfriend in the mid-60s.
03:20Just an innocent sort of like friendship,
03:22girlfriend and boyfriend, as it was back in them days.
03:26We used to go pictures or just hang around in his house,
03:29you know, just doing silly things, I suppose.
03:34Sue was still at school when she became pregnant.
03:37My boyfriend said, well, let's get married.
03:40But his mum said, no, we're far too young.
03:43So it didn't happen.
03:45My mum was mortified, to say the least.
03:49I've brought shame on the family.
03:51Wear a big coat.
03:52She bought me this massive, thick coat
03:54and it was in the middle of summer.
03:56And I was walking around with this big coat on
03:58and everyone kept saying, are you cold?
04:00And I used to go, yeah, I'm cold.
04:04You know, so nobody knew I was pregnant.
04:08As Sue was still a teenager,
04:10her mother decided what was going to happen.
04:14I would go to my mother's baby home, the baby would be adopted.
04:17I did try, I did say to her,
04:20I don't want to get the baby adopted, I want to keep him.
04:23And they said, no, you're too young.
04:25And I was taken to Bedford Mother and Baby Home.
04:29The mother and baby home has since been demolished.
04:32New flats have been built on the site.
04:35What a change.
04:37It's weird.
04:39Very odd.
04:41Brings back lots of memories.
04:44Yeah.
04:46In the last few weeks of her pregnancy,
04:49Sue made one final attempt to change her mother's mind.
04:53I just got up one day and I thought, I'm going home.
04:55But when I got to the house,
04:57I knocked on the door and my mum answered
04:59and she said, what are you doing here?
05:00I says, I've come home, I'm keeping the baby.
05:03She said, no.
05:04She turned me round, she said, go back.
05:07And sent me back, I didn't even go in the house.
05:16In October 1968, Sue's son Richard was born.
05:21Oh, he was lovely.
05:23He was seven pound and he had dark hair.
05:28His skin was like an olivey sort of colour.
05:32And he was beautiful.
05:34Sue cared for her baby son for five weeks
05:38before she was told that a foster family
05:40had been found for him.
05:41So I was told to pack my bags,
05:43leave the baby in the nursery, and just go.
05:48So I didn't get to say goodbye.
05:53I just cried all the way through it.
05:55It wasn't what I wanted.
05:58But then what I wanted didn't come into it, I don't think.
06:03Afterwards, I went home, I got myself a job.
06:07Still was seeing my boyfriend.
06:08And then I found out I was pregnant again.
06:12My mum hit the roof and I thought,
06:14I can't do this again.
06:16I was very determined.
06:18I've got to put my foot down
06:19and I've got to say what I think.
06:22She wanted to get him adopted.
06:25But I said, no.
06:26I said, and if you want him to get,
06:28if you keep saying that I've got to get him adopted,
06:32I'll move out and I'll take him with me.
06:35And with that, she said,
06:36Sue's mum would look after the baby in the day
06:38whilst Sue was at work.
06:40Later on, Sue had four more children,
06:43bringing them up mainly as a single parent.
06:46But she's always regretted giving up her first-born son.
06:50I managed when you lot were little.
06:52So, yeah, I think I probably could have done it, looking back.
06:57I think it was a very difficult decision to make.
07:00It was a very difficult decision to make.
07:03I think I probably could have done it, looking back.
07:06I think it'd be amazing to find him, though, wouldn't it?
07:08Yeah.
07:10Come on.
07:12You all right?
07:15Provided.
07:17Don't worry, Mum.
07:19They're all here.
07:22When we took on Sue's case,
07:24our first step was to find the new adoptive name
07:28of the son she'd called Richard.
07:31We discovered he was now called Steve Belgrove.
07:37But then the trail ran cold.
07:40Our specialist researcher couldn't locate him in this country.
07:44He was in the UK.
07:47But in the Netherlands,
07:48they tracked down a Steve Belgrove of the right age.
08:06Steve's adoption happened a long time ago.
08:09He was a young boy,
08:12Steve's adoption happened a lifetime and hundreds of miles from here.
08:18So given all that distance,
08:20how will he react to the news that his birth mother
08:23has never forgotten him
08:25and hopes that one day they can actually meet?
08:35There you are. Steve.
08:37Hi. Nice to meet you. You too.
08:39Thanks for having me today.
08:43So how did you feel about your birth mother getting in touch?
08:47I was quite shocked when I got the email.
08:51It's good. I've always wanted to meet my mother.
08:54Did you? Yeah.
08:55I must have had premonition or something
08:57because I was talking to my kids about it
08:59a couple of weeks before I got the email, actually.
09:02No.
09:03If she didn't finally look for me, I would look for her in the end.
09:06That's unbelievable. Yeah.
09:08So this really does mean a lot to you.
09:11Oh, yeah.
09:13I always had this sort of deep in my heart,
09:15I always had a feeling and a hope that...
09:20..that she would come and look for me.
09:22So what was your adoption like?
09:24Normal working-class family, pretty good upbringing, good schooling.
09:27Whereabouts? Milton Mowbray.
09:30Pork pies and stuff.
09:32Left school, joined the British Army
09:34and drive trucks and all that kind of stuff, you know,
09:37and that's what I did, you know.
09:39I've got kids now, I've got a boy and a girl.
09:41Grandkids? Three.
09:43Blimey. I don't look that old.
09:47Well, they will be the first great-grandchildren for your birth mother.
09:51I'm happy for her.
09:53I'm happy she found me.
09:56What did you know about her
09:58and about the circumstances of your adoption?
10:01The one main thing, I knew she was young.
10:03So when she was pregnant, her mother was apoplectic.
10:08It was decided almost immediately
10:10that the baby would be put up for adoption.
10:13She wishes that she had been strong enough to keep you
10:18and she looks back now and she has so many agonising regrets
10:23about what she thinks was the wrong decision
10:25because she was young and she was persuaded to do that.
10:28Yeah, it couldn't have been easy.
10:31I mean, you've got kids, you know,
10:33you can't imagine giving them away and then forgetting them,
10:36you don't.
10:37It's quite a heavy thing to go through life with, I should imagine.
10:41Well, she's thought about you every single day.
10:45Yeah, sure.
10:47Sort of, er...
10:49Tugs on her heartstrings a bit, doesn't it?
10:54Sue went on to have five more children
10:57and many of those years were as a single parent.
11:00She found that really tough.
11:02I can identify with that.
11:04My ex-wife, she got cancer.
11:08And when my son was 12, she died.
11:12So I stopped working and brought my sons up
11:15and my daughter from a different relationship
11:18and she came to live with me as well at six years old.
11:22So...
11:24I know it's like bringing kids up on your own stuff.
11:28When we tell her that we found you,
11:32it will change her life completely.
11:35Probably change mine a bit as well.
11:40So what else can I tell you?
11:42Do we look alike?
11:43I've got a photograph of your birth mum.
11:47Oh, man.
11:48Oh, man.
11:51Yeah.
11:53Yeah.
11:56Yeah.
12:00Yeah, it makes you think, doesn't it?
12:04I just...
12:05I just feel like I know her, man, or something, you know?
12:08It's weird.
12:09It's weird.
12:17She wrote a letter.
12:25Whoa.
12:28Dear Richard, I hope this letter finds you well.
12:31I've wanted to reunite with you again for a long time,
12:35but I didn't want to upset your life.
12:38If I close my eyes and I can see and feel you in my arms,
12:43you will always be my son.
12:48You are such a...
12:52..beautiful baby,
12:54and I am one proud mum.
13:00So it's going to happen?
13:01Yeah.
13:04Yeah.
13:06Yeah.
13:09Yeah, looking forward to it.
13:18Our next searcher, Melanie,
13:19has a profound need to know more about her older sisters
13:23because her own start in life was so precarious.
13:32It's amazing to be here.
13:35Where I was with my mother, Maria,
13:38and remembering the twins born a year before.
13:43Sisters that I've lost.
13:48Maybe they were in a place like this as well.
13:52I want to know what happened.
13:54Were they OK? Are they OK?
14:05Melanie Macney is 53 and lives in Hemel Hempstead.
14:10As well as working for an airline,
14:12she upcycles furniture to sell in a local shop.
14:16I do love restoring and repairing.
14:20I think it might be to do with being adopted
14:26and me having a second chance,
14:30so if something's being chucked away,
14:33I'd like to save it and give it a new life.
14:39Melanie was always close with her adoptive family.
14:42But after her adoptive mother died when she was 25 years old,
14:46she approached social services and accessed her adoption records.
14:53Melanie was born on 21st October 1988.
14:57Melanie was born on 21st October 1970
15:01at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington.
15:04Melanie's mother, Maria Sumera, was then 36.
15:08She was born in Yugoslavia and spoke a Serbo-Croat dialect.
15:13Melanie learned that Maria grew up
15:16on the tiny Croatian island of Kropang...
15:20..which during World War II witnessed violence and brutality.
15:30After the war ended, many of the island's youth, including Maria,
15:34fled the new communist regime,
15:37travelling to Italy and then to Australia.
15:42Maria later moved again.
15:46Maria had arrived in England in 1967, apparently on her own,
15:51and formed a relationship with an Irish man.
15:54He and Maria had twin girls, Kathleen and Rosemary.
15:58It seems the twins were then placed with foster parents
16:02and may have later been adopted.
16:04She had the twins in October 1969
16:08and she had me in October 1970.
16:12Melanie went to Kingsmore House mother and baby home.
16:16Maria seemed proud of Melanie and talked and played with her.
16:20But Maria became increasingly depressed
16:23and Melanie moved to her adoptive home in November 1971.
16:32Sadly, Maria's mental health deteriorated
16:36and she was thought to be suffering from a form of schizophrenia.
16:42It's quite obvious that she's struggling.
16:47It put me off having children of my own, in a way.
16:52I did want to have children, but I suppose I felt in me,
16:58will I be the kind of mother Maria was?
17:02I wonder if the twins, if they were the same.
17:07I want to know what happened to them.
17:24Melanie Macney is searching for her twin sisters, Kathleen and Rosemary,
17:29born just a year before her.
17:32Last year, she uploaded her DNA to an online database
17:36in the hope of finding them.
17:38But instead, she found two other siblings.
17:43I got a match with what turned out to be my two sisters in Australia,
17:49Helen and Mitzah.
17:51Maria had been married in Australia.
17:54Before arriving in London, she left behind a husband and two little girls
17:59who never saw their mother again.
18:03Unbelievable to be in contact.
18:06They had some photos of Maria.
18:08I'd never seen a photo of her.
18:11She looks lovely.
18:13Hi!
18:15Sister Mitzah is based in Brisbane.
18:18Can you see me? Hello!
18:21So I've just been looking at the photos of our mother.
18:25That was the first time I had seen what she looked like.
18:29I know, it's incredible.
18:31So your father never talked about her, she left and that was it?
18:35That was it.
18:36When she passed away, my uncle said she had a porpoise funeral.
18:41Oh, God.
18:43There was no one there.
18:44No one there and no one to pay for it, no.
18:48And just to know that she wasn't able to keep any of us.
18:54I just think it's really tragic and it's really sad.
18:58And it just says so much about her life and her.
19:03I think the same. I just feel just sadness for her life.
19:07Yeah, it is.
19:08And, you know, to think that she had twins.
19:11I know.
19:12I know, it just felt so sad, isn't it?
19:14That really shocked me.
19:15Yeah, let's hope that we find the twins.
19:18I really, really hope that you find the girls.
19:21So happy that you're looking for them as well.
19:27Melanie's birth mother was destitute when she died, aged only 43.
19:34Melanie's returning to Kingsmore House,
19:36where she spent the first four months of her life with her mother.
19:41Maybe she stood at one of these windows holding me.
19:46I think it feels nice to me. It feels like a good place.
19:52Makes me think more about finding out what happened to the twins a year before.
19:57I wonder, have they had children?
20:03I think it would bring a lot of peace and comfort to me to find out.
20:14Melanie's adoption paperwork gave names and dates of births for the twins
20:19and, using that information,
20:21our specialist intermediaries were able to begin a search.
20:25They located Rosie, who was delighted that Melanie wanted to trace her,
20:30although she wasn't ready to be filmed.
20:33She also had news about Kathleen.
20:36Very sadly, she'd been killed in a road accident.
20:40They also discovered that she had a son, Liam, Melanie's nephew.
20:52Liam was delighted to hear about his Aunt Melanie.
20:56He told us that his mother had been desperate to make contact with her other sisters,
21:00but she'd never been able to trace them.
21:03I really appreciate Liam meeting me today.
21:05Hopefully, he'll be able to tell me more about the twins
21:08and perhaps offer Melanie the connection she's always craved.
21:19Hey. Hi, Mickey. How are you doing?
21:21Great. Come on in. Thanks.
21:24So, we're going to have a look at the twins.
21:26We're going to have a look at the twins.
21:28We're going to have a look at the twins.
21:30How are you doing? Great. Come on in. Thanks.
21:36Thanks for having me. Where do I start?
21:39I'm so sorry that your mum, Kathleen, isn't here any more,
21:43and that was relatively recently.
21:45Yeah, about two years ago, she passed away in an accident.
21:49It was quite sudden, unexpected.
21:52It was hard to take, but I'm happy that this has happened.
21:55It was my mum's dream to finally meet her siblings,
22:00her biological family, and myself,
22:03to meet my auntie and mum's lost sibling.
22:06It'll be really, yeah, emotional and exciting.
22:09So, how did the twins come to be adopted?
22:11What was going on in their very early life?
22:13I believe that they were, when they were born,
22:15or for the period after they were born,
22:17they may have been living on the streets in central London,
22:20sleeping in doorways and bottle feeding, I believe, on the streets.
22:24Tough.
22:25And that's when they had to go to hospital
22:27and had to be put into foster care.
22:29And that's where my nan came into the story.
22:32Adopted nan, yeah?
22:33Yeah, ended up being my mum and auntie's adopted mum.
22:36That is such amazing news. They were kept together.
22:39Yeah. They were adopted together.
22:41Really, yeah, important.
22:43That's going to be just wonderful for Melanie.
22:46Can I see some photographs of...?
22:48Yeah, yeah, I'd love to show you, yeah. Oh, thank you.
22:51So, on the left's my mum, Kathleen,
22:53and on the right's Rosemary.
22:55They look very different, don't they?
22:57Yeah. Here's another of my mum.
22:59She's got lovely hair.
23:01Yeah, she does.
23:02So, whereabouts did you grow up?
23:04I grew up in Royston.
23:05I lived with my mum up to the age of seven.
23:08She was a good mother.
23:10She just struggled with mental health issues, yeah.
23:14But I stayed in contact with her
23:16while I've been in foster care from the age of seven.
23:20The foster parents are where you were adopted?
23:22Foster parents.
23:23What was that like?
23:24Tricky. In the beginning of being separated from my mum,
23:27it's really hard.
23:28All you want to do is live with your mum.
23:30I could see it was hard for her to look after herself,
23:32let alone look after me as well.
23:34But my foster parents have been amazing.
23:36My mum knew that, that it would be best for me.
23:39Did she remain close to her sister, Rosie?
23:41Very close, yeah. Calling every day.
23:44My mum passing has been quite difficult for Rosie.
23:47So I think the news of Melanie giving her an extra boost...
23:51That's really good to hear.
23:53Melanie was lucky enough to have a really lovely adoption,
23:56but when she lost her adopted mum,
23:58it set her mind on a course of finding out more about her origins,
24:02where she came from.
24:03She found out that her mother was in what was Yugoslavia
24:06during the war, and after that went to Australia,
24:09but then flew over to the UK.
24:11Right. It would be great to talk to Melanie
24:13and find out more about this.
24:15Yeah. I've got a photograph of Melanie.
24:17Can I see it?
24:19Yes. Yeah. Of course you can.
24:27Ah, I can see a bit of my mum and Rosie in here.
24:31Yeah, for sure.
24:33Oh, wow.
24:35Melanie.
24:37Oh, wow. So this is my auntie.
24:40It's really exciting.
24:43Yeah, I can definitely see some of my mum and Rosie in here, for sure.
24:47She's definitely the sister.
24:50Oh, that's a really nice photo. It's really nice to see her.
24:53That's cool. That's really cool.
24:56Your mum would be proud of you, wouldn't she?
24:58Yeah.
25:00I hope so, yeah.
25:02Yeah, I'm glad I'm doing this,
25:04and always thinking of her while I'm doing this,
25:06that it's really what she wanted.
25:08And I want to do it myself, but I've got to do it for her too.
25:12Yeah.
25:27Sue Stalley is looking for the son
25:29her mother forced her to give up when she was a teenager.
25:33Sue always regretted giving up her firstborn for adoption,
25:38but today I'm hoping that she's going to be able to put aside
25:42those years of worry
25:45when I tell her that her son has been found
25:49and he wants to meet.
26:03Hey, Sue. Hello, Davina.
26:05Hi. Come on in. Thanks very much.
26:07Thank you.
26:12Well, thanks so much for talking to me today.
26:15I wanted to start off by asking
26:17if you've kind of thought about what it would do for you
26:21if he was found, like, what would it feel like?
26:24Oh, if I can meet him and I can ask him,
26:28are you all right, have you had a good life?
26:31Is that what's important?
26:33That's more important to me than anything.
26:36Well, you're going to find out.
26:38Am I? Yeah.
26:40You've found him? Your son's been found.
26:43Does he want to see me?
26:45Yes.
26:52I can't believe it.
26:54Yes.
26:56I'm going to come and get you. You've got to cuck.
26:59Thank you so much.
27:06I'm going to get my son.
27:08Yes. After all this time. Yes, you do.
27:11Yes.
27:17Is he OK? He's OK.
27:19OK.
27:21Has he had a good life?
27:23After all this time?
27:29Oh.
27:35Would you like to learn a bit about him?
27:37Yes, I'd love to.
27:39OK, so his name was changed to Stephen.
27:42Oh, Stephen.
27:44And he's known as Steve.
27:46Oh, that's nice.
27:48And he is now living in the Netherlands.
27:51Oh, my goodness.
27:53And he didn't want for anything when he was growing up.
27:57A good life, generally.
27:59When he was 17, he up and left and went into the army.
28:03Oh, my God. We're full of army.
28:05Yeah. We're full of forces. Yeah.
28:07You actually coming to find him has been a great joy for him.
28:11Oh.
28:13Oh, it's great.
28:15He's got two children.
28:17Oh, has he?
28:19The oldest one, a boy, his mum died when the boy was 12.
28:23Oh.
28:25He ended up leaving his job to look after his son
28:29and then he took on his daughter as well as a single parent.
28:32Oh, wow.
28:34And I've been a single parent most of my life.
28:36Now his daughter, Chelsea, has got a little girl.
28:39Yeah.
28:41Who's two, called Noreen.
28:43Oh.
28:45So you're a great-grandma.
28:47Oh.
28:49You're too young to be a great-grandma.
28:51I know. Look at that.
28:53About what he's been through.
28:55Not much different to me own.
28:57And raising all those kids on his own.
28:59He's done well, hasn't he? He's done really well. Yeah.
29:01I have got a picture.
29:03Oh.
29:05This is Steve.
29:07Oh, my God.
29:09I think he looks so like you.
29:11Oh, he's lovely, isn't he?
29:13He looks so kind.
29:15Oh.
29:17Bless him.
29:19He's had such a life.
29:23Bless his heart.
29:25Can't wait to meet him.
29:27For luck I've got. My family is all complete.
29:29Yet again.
29:31So, you're going to meet on Thursday?
29:34Oh!
29:36Oh, my God.
29:40I'm going to give him a cuddle.
29:45Yeah.
29:47I haven't done that for 50-odd years.
29:54Steve has returned to the UK to meet his birth mother.
29:58Just outside Bedford, the town where he was born.
30:02Hello.
30:04Well, hello.
30:06I brought my daughter and my granddaughter.
30:09I brought with me.
30:11I thought it would be nice for my birth mother,
30:14great-granddaughter and granddaughter, you know.
30:18How are you feeling? Nervous.
30:20Yeah?
30:22Yeah, you're meeting your mother for the first time.
30:25It's really important because you do have a bit of an identity problem, you know.
30:31It's a big chunk of your life that you've missed out on, really,
30:35so you want to know a bit what her life was like.
30:39Anybody would have a thousand questions to ask, you know.
30:43Can't wait. It'll be great.
30:46Can't wait. It'll be great.
30:49Bye.
30:51See you later. See you later.
30:53Bye-bye.
30:55Bye-bye. Bye-bye.
31:06I can't believe this day's arrived at all.
31:09It just seems really surreal.
31:11I'm excited and nervous at the same time to meet him.
31:15I think it's important that he knows I wanted him all these years.
31:20I'd like to tell him that.
31:22Taxi's here. How you feeling? Yeah, I'm all right.
31:25I just think of him as my baby, my boy.
31:29He's coming home.
31:32I think the nerves are really kicking in now.
31:38Don't know what to expect.
32:01Hello.
32:23Hello. Good to meet you.
32:25Good to meet you.
32:31Very long first day.
32:38Nice.
32:44Taking a long while, eh? Yeah.
32:4655 years.
32:48I've been held you for 55 years.
32:50Sad.
32:52Long time.
32:55I've always held a lot of guilt giving you up.
32:59I can understand that.
33:01Cos you were so young, I always knew it must have been difficult for you.
33:05Yeah. But we're here now.
33:07We're here now. We can make up for all the time we've lost.
33:10Yeah. You look lovely.
33:12Yeah, thank you.
33:16So you've been in the army, then?
33:18Yeah. All of my family's been in the army.
33:21Oh, it must have come from there, then.
33:23You must have got it from there. Yeah.
33:25It's weird, innit, how you can be so far apart?
33:28So close.
33:30Be related, yet do the same things.
33:32I've got you a little something.
33:34Yeah.
33:40Oh, St Christopher.
33:42Yeah. That's nice.
33:44Keep you safe on your journey.
33:46Yeah, thank you very much.
33:48Oh, I love you.
33:50I knew that cuddle from when he was a baby.
33:54I felt that immediate bond.
33:57It was lovely.
33:59It was heartfelt.
34:03Hey, Maisie.
34:05Hello. Hello.
34:07Hello. How are you?
34:09Lovely to meet you.
34:11Hello, darling.
34:13Oh, here he is.
34:15Fantastic. We will all be a family now.
34:19All right? Yeah.
34:21That's my mother, you know, my birth mother.
34:23It just feels natural.
34:25There is still a bond there somewhere.
34:27It made me feel like my mother loved me, I suppose.
34:33To families. Cheers.
34:35Cheers to family.
34:37It just feels amazing that he's back.
34:3955 years, and there's my son right in front of me.
34:43I've longed for that.
34:45My family is complete.
34:47I've got all my children,
34:49and that's all I've ever wanted.
34:55I love you.
35:07Melanie Mackney wants to know
35:09what happened to her twin sisters Kathleen and Rosemary.
35:15She knows that their mother Maria,
35:17whose tragic life took her from war-torn Yugoslavia
35:20to Australia and finally to London,
35:23died destitute, aged 43.
35:32Sadly, we've discovered that one of Melanie's twin sisters,
35:36Kathleen, has also passed away.
35:39It is so sad that Melanie's sister Kathleen died in 2021.
35:47But today brings good news.
35:50Liam, Kathleen's son, wants to meet Melanie
35:53to fulfil his mum's dream of finding family.
36:02Melanie has been informed of Kathleen's death off-camera.
36:07Hi, Melanie. Hello, Davina. Come in.
36:10Thank you. Thanks so much.
36:15Thanks very much for seeing me today.
36:18I'm so sorry about the news. How have you been feeling?
36:22I was really shocked.
36:24I just somehow thought of them together, the twins, the two.
36:29How long have you been looking?
36:31I've always been looking, but I really didn't know how to do it.
36:36I got my records, so I got more of a picture about my mother.
36:41How did that make you feel about her?
36:44It just looked like a really, really hard life,
36:48and I just felt desperately sad for her.
36:51I've always wondered about the twins because I didn't...
36:56I didn't know if they had been with her,
37:00been in that kind of life, what happened.
37:03Have you worried about that? Yeah.
37:07Well, in the process of finding out that Kathleen had died,
37:12we got in touch with her son.
37:15Oh, wow! Oh, my God!
37:18Liam is Kathleen's son.
37:20Oh, wow. Wow.
37:28That's good.
37:30Does Rosemary have children?
37:33She doesn't. No? Oh, like me?
37:36I'll tell you a bit about Liam in a minute,
37:39but it has meant that we've been able to piece together their early life.
37:44So your mum and dad were homeless
37:48and, in fact, Kathleen and Rosemary were also on the street
37:53and they were a few months old and they got found and taken to hospital
37:58and then got fostered by their future adoptive mother
38:01and so they stayed together.
38:03Oh, brilliant. Brilliant.
38:05And they had a nice family.
38:07Oh, wow.
38:09They were like that.
38:11So close and always looking out for each other
38:16and always had each other's backs.
38:19Kathleen did go on to have some mental health issues.
38:25She struggled with that
38:28and it meant that at seven years old, Liam got fostered.
38:33He had a foster family
38:35and they absolutely included Kathleen in his life.
38:40Oh, wow.
38:41And he was loved all around.
38:45He's done really well for himself.
38:48He's 24. 24?
38:50He'd love to meet you. Would he?
38:52Would he? Oh.
38:54I'd like to meet him.
38:56And Rosemary knows about you.
38:59She's a bit shy about the cameras.
39:02Yeah. But she would love to meet you.
39:04Really? Oh.
39:10How is she? She's great.
39:12Is she OK? Yeah.
39:14Do you miss her sister?
39:16Yeah.
39:18Absolutely devastating.
39:21And, in fact, Liam said that it was Kathleen's dream
39:25and you reaching out and finding him has done something for him
39:31because they've always talked about trying to find you
39:36but not knowing where to start.
39:38Oh, wow. You don't know what they look like, do you?
39:41I do.
39:45That mean a lot to me. Yeah.
39:47So...
39:50..this is Kathleen.
39:54Oh, my God.
39:58Wow.
40:02Oh.
40:06Wow.
40:08The difference, really, of Maria and Kathleen
40:11is that Kathleen did get lots of support.
40:14Really? Yeah.
40:16You know, she worked, she was happy,
40:19she wanted to have Liam live with her
40:22but knew that he was in the best place for him.
40:25Yeah. So there was no anger or anything.
40:28It was a very good, healthy set-up.
40:30Yeah, she just needed help like Maria did.
40:32But she got the support and Maria didn't.
40:34Yeah, a girl different. Mmm. Mmm.
40:38So I've got a picture here of Liam with Rosemary.
40:42Oh, wow.
40:46Oh, my God.
40:48Oh.
40:50Oh, he's lovely.
40:52He's so handsome.
40:54Yeah, he is. He is.
40:56Oh, he's lovely. She's lovely.
41:01What do you want to say to Liam?
41:03I just want to meet him, give him a hug.
41:07I think...
41:10..yeah, just be there. Just, yeah.
41:12Be there for him. Just be there for him, yeah. Mmm.
41:24Melanie will meet Liam in a hotel close to her home.
41:28It'll be the first time she's ever met a blood relative.
41:33So I'm very excited.
41:36I couldn't sleep very well,
41:38wondering how Mel would be, what she would be like.
41:42Liam's girlfriend, Stephanie, and his foster dad, Richard,
41:45have come along to support him.
41:48Similar eyes to your mum's, then?
41:50Yeah, yeah. Actually, my mum's eyes and Mel, yeah.
41:53So how are you feeling about today, Melanie?
41:55I'm feeling nervous. Yeah.
41:57And excited.
41:59I can't really keep a straight face cos I'm just smiling.
42:02It's all right. Yeah.
42:08I want to hug him.
42:10I want to talk to him.
42:12I want to hear him, just to see his face.
42:15Does that look like me?
42:17Yeah.
42:19I'll see you later.
42:22Bye-bye.
42:25Bye-bye.
42:30Good luck.
42:44There's so much contained in this.
42:47There's so many emotions, feelings, dreams.
42:52A lot of lies now.
43:04I'm just ready to do it.
43:21Hiya, Mel.
43:25You found us.
43:27How are you?
43:29I'm good. You OK?
43:31You remind me so much of my mum.
43:33Really? Yeah, like a lot.
43:35Your eyes, yeah.
43:37A lot, yeah.
43:41Oh, my God.
43:43You look lovely.
43:45You do too.
43:47Do you live in Highgate?
43:49Yeah, I grew up in North London.
43:51Did you?
43:53So did Mum and Rosie.
43:55So, you know, I'm fostered as well,
43:57so I lived with Mum up until about seven.
44:00But I always stayed in contact with her,
44:03even until, yeah, what happened, yeah.
44:06It must have been such a shock.
44:08It was really unexpected and, yeah, sad.
44:11Sorry.
44:13You're all right. Yeah.
44:15It's been OK cos I've got good foster parents
44:18and they've been really supportive of me.
44:20I've got Rosie as well, so it's all good.
44:22Yeah, it's a good thing, isn't it?
44:24Yeah. I'm so sorry that, you know...
44:26Yeah, I'm sorry to time you.
44:28Yeah, I would have loved for you to have met her.
44:30She really, really would have wanted to meet you as well.
44:33Yeah, definitely, definitely.
44:36He said,
44:38I hope that I'm enough,
44:40that you met me instead of my mum.
44:43And I said, you're more than enough.
44:46Do you think you look Yugoslavian?
44:49I don't know, I don't know.
44:51But I think we've definitely got similar facial features, haven't we?
44:54Have you ever been?
44:56I've been to Croatia, yeah. Yeah, me too.
44:58And I really liked it.
45:00It felt so natural.
45:02I see so much of my mum in her,
45:04her mannerisms, how she reacts to good news.
45:09Here's Richard, my dad, and Steph, my girlfriend.
45:13This is Mel.
45:16Nice to meet you.
45:19Lovely to meet you.
45:21It does feel like belonging somewhere.
45:25I've always wanted to belong.
45:31And, you know, he's really my...
45:36..mine.
45:45ACOUSTIC GUITAR MUSIC
45:48ACOUSTIC GUITAR MUSIC
46:12The Unlikely Crime-Fighting duo are back for a brand-new series,
46:16and you can watch the first episode of MacDonald and Dodds
46:19streaming now on ITVX.