A WOMAN who spent more than three decades searching for her long lost brother finally tracked him down - on the other side of the world.

Karen Mcleod, 64, had exhausted every avenue in her 35-year quest to track down her sibling.

But she says a sudden epiphany led her to look in an Australian phone book and spot a name in Tasmania - Donald Christopher George Page.

Karen’s mother, Hilda Page, had a child with a previous partner before leaving him to be with her father.

Karen, from near York, said: “She was living in London after World War Two with her husband Jack and she gave birth to Donald.

“However, she quickly met and fell in love with my father and they tried to take custody of Donald but the court ruled that her ex-husband would take custody due to my mother’s adultery.

“My dad and my mum moved up to Leeds where they gave birth to me and my two sisters and we grew up having no idea we had a brother.”

Shortly after Karen’s mother died, her father told Karen that she had a brother called Donald.

She said: “My dad remarried and for a while his partner didn’t want us knowing about our brother but he felt he had to tell us. He really wanted us to find our brother.”

Karen added that time passed and midway into her 30s she decided she had to find her brother or risk going through life never meeting him.

She said: “I always felt like I was missing a part of me without knowing my brother. I couldn’t spend my whole life never knowing who or what he was like.

“I looked through the phone book but I couldn’t find his name anywhere. I asked the Salvation Army for help and Long Lost Family but they weren’t able to help.”

Karen moved to Stillingfleet three years ago and said that she was looking at one of the few photos she had of her mother when she had an epiphany regarding the whereabouts of her brother.

She said: “I just thought he might of been in Australia. I don’t know what propelled me to look in the Australian yellow pages but I’m so glad I did.

“I found the name Donald Christopher George Page in Tasmania and gave him a call. When he answered he put the phone down. He thought I was a maniac. But I persisted and emailed him all the evidence I had, including a birth certificate. When he finally believed me he said it was the best news he had ever heard.”

Karen said that Donald had been told by his father that his mother had died at birth. He had moved to Australia at 18 and worked for ABC News travelling around the country.

She said: “We spoke every day on the phone and on Skype, building up our relationship, until I finally told my sisters that I had found our brother. It was an amazing feeling that after all these years we would finally meet him.”

Donald, 74, came over to visit Karen, her sisters and her father last May and he family have plans to visit him in Tasmania next year.