A MAN who was abandoned outside a church as a baby discovered his mum was still alive and wanted to meet him on Monday’s night’s Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace.
The 56-year-old was left on church steps in west London as a baby and knew almost nothing about the circumstances of his birth.
All he had to verify that he was a foundling was a single a piece of adoption paperwork saying he was born “on or about” 31st August 1965.
The name given to him at the time was David Sutherland – because he was found in Sutherland Place – and he gets emotional while touching the steps where he was found for the first time.
“Thinking of my mum coming down this road and putting me here,” he began to recall during the episode.
“It seems like a really lovely church and she must have thought, ‘I want somebody to find him.'”
READ MORE ON LOST FAMILY
His mother was married to his father six months into her pregnancy, however, fearing rejection for conceiving out of wedlock, the parents left their son at the church in Bayswater.
Wanting to find his biological parents, zoo keeper Andy, of Norfolk, asked Long Lost Family for help.
And eventually, thanks to DNA testing, found that his mother was still alive in Ireland and wanted to meet him.
He was also the eldest of eight children. His father sadly died in 2009, having always been married to his mother, who wanted to remain unidentified.
Andy’s parents, who brought his seven siblings up, got married when his mother was six months pregnant with him.
His mum and dad came from strict, religious Irish families and it would have been a “social disgrace” to have a baby just three months after marrying.
Once Andy was given the news that his 82-year-old birth mother was alive and wanted to see him, he travelled to Ireland to meet her. He also visited his birth father’s grave.
After requesting not to be identified, David met his mum away from the cameras at a hotel not far from where she lives and his siblings grew up.
Andy then explained that they had a hug and started speaking for the next three hours.
Long Lost Family Born Without Trace is available to watch on ITV and ITV Hub.
