A YORK woman who fell in love with a German prisoner-of-war in 1946 has launched an international search after spotting him on the holiday island of Tenerife.

Sheila Bedford, nee Lacey, 71, of Fox Covert, Huntington, said she is now desperate to speak to her lost love Dieter Albrecht, after she missed a golden opportunity while on holiday with a female friend last month.

She caught a glimpse of Dieter, who would now be in his 70s, next to a hotel pool - the first time she had seen him since they fell in love while working on a farm in Warter, near Pocklington, in 1946.

But after checking with the hotel, who were only able to confirm his name and that he had returned to Dusseldorf that day, she has made inquiries in Britain and in Germany, even calling the British consulate in Dusseldorf, German newspapers and checking telephone directories.

Now the Evening Press is hoping to aid Sheila's with this article on our website and calling for anyone who knows anything about Dieter to contact us using the e-mail link above.

Sheila and Dieter were together for only a short time, but she says she has never forgotten him.

She said: "Dieter and I had only four weeks together, but we built up such a strong friendship, we both fell deeply in love really.

"I know there had been a war, but he was just a person, somebody's son.

"And I lost everything. I've never forgotten him, never forgotten Dieter.

"I've been married twice but both ended in divorce because I don't think I truly loved them, I only loved Dieter and I still do to this day."

It was a forbidden affair which saw Dieter moved to another farm. Sheila said she was beaten by her father and forced to choose between her new love and her family. She chose to never see her father again and moved to lodgings in Pocklington.

Although Dieter continued to write to Sheila, the young couple finally lost touch when her father falsely told Dieter that she had married.

Now, spurred on by the chance sighting, the mother-of-two says she will travel to Germany to find him if she gets a strong lead.

She said: "I let the chance go by and I truly regret it.

"But the friend I was with would not come over with me, I was really nervous, and for some reason I just couldn't go over on my own.

"I checked later at the hotel to make sure that it was him but he had checked out and gone back to Dusseldorf that same day.

"Now I am desperate to see him."

Updated: 11:22 Monday, May 27, 2002