A FAMILY has been reunited after 50 years of searching for one another, thanks to the Echo.

Jane Mickleboro, 51, of Fairfax Drive, Westcliff, had been looking for her brother, who was adopted at 18 months old.

But following an appeal in the Echo and a social media campaign, she has now found him and they were reunited in Southend this week.

Jane said her brother, born Mark Thorpe, was given up to a couple in Hullbridge due to family circumstances in 1961.

Two months ago she started a campaign to find him onto social media which quickly reached the Echo after being shared 20,000 times on Facebook.

A couple of days later, Mark contacted us and we arranged the meeting.

Jane said: “I was excited more than nervous, I couldn’t wait all day.

“It went really well. It was like everything was complete. It was one of the best moments, it was perfect.”

Jane had been searching for years to find her brother, who she believed may have changed his name following his adoption.

Over the years she had contacted the show Long Lost Families, scoured the phone book, and gone through electoral registers, adoption agencies, the Salvation Army, websites that help you find family members and finally Facebook.

The power of the social media site saw the search reach as far as Australia, America and Canada.

Mark, who is now known as Mark Long, said his step sister who lives in Southend contacted him and told him about our story.

Mark said: “She called me at midnight and I read it and thought it couldn’t be anyone else. It was all a bit of a shock.”

He said he had been looking for years to find his family, had got as far as finding his mother’s birth name and eventually gave up.

Mark, who is 53, now lives in Norfolk, has a partner and four children and owns his own record shop, hopes to continue his relationship with his birth family and was thrilled to have finally met his mum and sister.

He said he lived in Southend until he was 15 years old and then moved away, but had been searching for his birth family for years.

“I knew I had this family, but I never thought I would meet them. It was all a bit strange but without a doubt I will see them again.”