Woman reunited with long-lost father after 56 years when he was 'suggested' as a friend by Facebook

Karen Harris was born in Croydon but adopted as a little girl in the early 1960s because her parents were not married.

She knew few details about her dad, one of them being his name - Trevor Sinden - which was told to her by a social worker when she was 18.

She also knew he was an electrician who had lived in Shepherds Way, Selsdon at the time of her birth.

Karen tried to find him but with little information she failed - until decades later when she saw the name on the 'suggested friends' feature on the social media site.

Karen, of Cornwall, saw Trevor now lived 350 miles away in Kent but scanned the profile and from his details and history realised she might be looking at her father.

The pair then chatted for weeks and met for the first time in an emotional reunion on Friday - and they both said it was like they have known each other their whole lives.

Trevor and Karen's mum - who she was reunited with when she was 28 - were teenagers at the time of the birth.

Born out of wedlock, Karen said it "wasn't the done thing in those days".

She added: "You just don't feel as though you belong.

''Looking at your family that brought you up, you're really grateful that they brought you up but you don't have that sense of belonging.

"Now I've found completion. I've found connection and completion and I'm cherishing it."

The re-united father and daughter decided to meet in Lyme Regis, Dorset, roughly halfway between Cornwall and Kent.

When they first spotted each other, they hugged for so long that a passerby said "I hope you know each other."

They had a lot of catching up to do in the following days, which were spent going on walks and searching for fossils on the Jurassic Coast.

Karen was also introduced to two of her long-lost cousins and has had "an amazing time with many new memories."

Trevor, 72, added: "It's like all of her Christmasses at the same time. It's so surreal, the chances of actually meeting were so slim.

"I have looked on the internet but could never find her. It's early days but I feel we already know each other quite well.

"If it wasn't for Facebook we wouldn't have met."

Karen says she will now cherish every moment she has with her dad.

"Those who are adopted can understand that moment when you first see someone other than yourself in a mirror that has your cheek bones, your eyes, your chin," she added.

''It is something that someone who isn’t adopted probably can’t relate to or understand, but it changes the way you look at the world.

"Now there is someone else like me, loving me for me and I cherish every moment. I'm incredibly blessed to find him now."