Woman dumped under blackberry bush discovers parents 80 YEARS later - with a STAMP
Anthea Ring, 80, was found hidden deep inside a bush by a family in South Downs with her hands tied tightly in front of her, and covered in scratches and insect bites in 1937. After being rescued, she was adopted by the family who had found her, never hearing from her blood parents again. But she can finally tell her grandchildren their heritage after DNA research experts made the fascinating breakthrough by testing the 30-year-old stamp, which was found on an archived letter.
HIGHLIGHT PR Anthea Ring in happy spirits after discovering the identity of her biological father
I can now finally tell my children and grandchildren about their roots and where they came from Anthea Ring
It was found after researchers successfully identified her deceased mother in 2016 as Lena O'Donnell from County Mayo, Ireland. But the search for her father was in vain. Experts said he was deceased with no descendants to test, and was deemed "impossible" to find. In a desperate attempt to find her biological father, Ms Ring, of Wiltshire, consulted the help of Europe's leading consumer DNA testing company, Living DNA and genetic genealogist, Julia Bell.
HIGHLIGHT PR Ms Ring when she was just a baby, living with her adoptive family in Surrey
After months of extensive research, experts stumbled upon six brothers from a family in County Galway, Ireland, in hopes to narrow one of them down as Anthea's long-lost father. Researchers discovered a letter sent by one of the Coyne brothers in the early Nineties, and tested the saliva of the post stamp next to Anthea's DNA. The match was successful, and her father was identified as Patrick Coyne. This inevitably ended Ms Ring’s life-long search for her missing father. Ms Ring said: "I'm delighted to have found the final piece in the puzzle of my family history. "Who would have thought that stamps from decades old letters were the key to unlocking my story? "I can now finally tell my children and grandchildren about their roots and where they came from."
HIGHLIGHT PR Ms Ring meets with DNA experts to find out the identity of her long-lost biological father
HIGHLIGHT PR Patrick Coyne, Ms Ring's biological father, before he passed away