A WOMAN has been reunited with her father after more than 40 years thanks to a mystery man and the Medway Messenger newspaper. Jane Haughey, 44, of King Street, Chatham, was desperate to discover the whereabouts of her father William Cowling.

She had not seen him since he left his family when she was just 18-months-old. Her search over the years had been fruitless until she contacted the Medway Messenger to make a plea urging readers to help with her search.

All she knew about her 65-year-old father was that he once lived in Burnt Oak Terrace, Gillingham, and his last known address was in Cheam, Surrey. Her appeal was read by a man who, thanks to his Internet skills, was able to put Miss Haughey in touch with her father the same night the story appeared in the paper.

The man, known only as Steve, took the trouble to search the web for possible telephone numbers for Mr Cowling, as he had tracked down his own mother the same way.

Jane's mother Audrey Fraser said: "It is unbelievable. The same night it was in the paper, Jane was on the phone to her dad. This man called Steve just rang up. He said he'd read about it in the paper and looked up phone numbers on the Internet. He said there are six Cowlings, including one that still lived in Cheam, Surrey.

"He said he had not seen his mother for 35 years and this is how he found her. We rang the Cheam phone number Steve gave us and amazingly it was Bill.

"He' obviously got his own family now and his own life to live but he said it was nice to hear from Jane. It's early days but he has asked her to send him some photos."

Miss Haughey, who has a 24-year-old son, has gone through life with a constant nagging feeling in the back of her mind that she must find him. Over the years she has contacted Cilla Black's ITV show Surprise, Surprise, and the Salvation Army in the hope they could shed some light on her father's whereabouts.

Mrs Fraser added: "We had tried everything. We weren't trying to rattle any skeletons. Jane just wanted to try and find her father. I am so pleased everything has worked out and it's all down to the paper and the man called Steve. If the story hadn't gone in the paper Jane may still be looking for her dad."