Francis Simpson has been re-united with her father Tony MacNauton after 48 years.

A north Shropshire woman who has spent most of her life trying to trace her father has had an emotional reunion with him after almost 50 years apart.

Frances Simpson, 51, of Market Drayton, lost touch with her dad after a marriage break-up when she was three years old.

But Mrs Simpson has managed to track down her dad, Tony Macnauton, 72, of Poole, Dorset.

The reunion came about after a chance meeting on the networking site Facebook with the half sister she never knew she had.

And if the shock of meeting his daughter wasn’t big enough Mr Macnauton also discovered he has five grandchildren and a great grandchild.

Mrs Simpson said: “I lost contact with dad when I was three. Since I was 18 I’ve tried to trace him but had no luck.

“My friend has been doing her family tree and had got as far as she could, so decided to do mine as a surprise for me. She found out dad had changed his name by deed poll, remarried and I had a 19-year-old half sister.

“I typed her name in on Facebook on January 16. There was only one Kim Macnauton that came up and it was her. I sent her a message saying ‘I know this will be a bit of a shock but if you are who I think you are, you’re my sister’.”

Within minutes they had exchanged phone numbers and had a tearful conversation over the phone before making plans to meet up in Shropshire.

But Kim, Tony’s former wife Tess Dudley, with whom he remains good friends, and her husband Steve organised for Frances to surprise him by turning up in Dorset.

Mr Macnauton, who came back to stay with his daughter in Market Drayton, said: “It’s so unusual. It’s as though we haven’t been apart. That’s hard to imagine. Even with my younger daughter Kim and Tess, we are all together like one family. It’s amazing.

“Frances has always been part of my life even though she has not been there. She has always been in my thoughts.”

Mrs Simpson said: “There are so many things we have got in common and I have got so much in common with Tess. She added: “All my life I have wanted a little sister.”

By Suzanne Roberts