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Twins who were separated soon after birth 62 years ago have been reunited, thanks to the internet.

John Bennett and Wendy Brooks (pictured) were split up five months after being born when their mother abandoned them on a doorstep in Gloucestershire.

Wendy managed to track down John with the help of an internet chat room despite living thousands of miles away in the US.

Now they have caught up with a whole life away from each other and have enjoyed time together in Lawton, Oklahoma, USA, where Wendy lives.

The pair were dumped in a cardboard box at the outbreak of the Second World War by single mother Phyllis Legge, then aged 34, when they were six weeks old. They were left outside the home of acouple known for their compassion for waifs and strays.

They were separated soon after they were found and went to different families.

Annie and Albert Finch, who found the pair on their doorstep, in Whaddon, Cheltenham, already had two sons of their own. They wanted a girl but could not keep both twins so Wendy stayed with them, while John was taken back by his mother, a domestic servant, and then given to Barnardo's in Somerset.

He was fostered and then adopted by a family in Ipswich, Suffolk.

Neither twin has any idea what happened to their mother, who gave birth to them in Swindon Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, or their father, whose name does not appear on their birth certificates. It is believed Miss Legge had four daughters and the twins are now looking for their lost siblings.	'It's like a gap in my life has now been filled'

The chicken farm manager, who lives near Norwich, and his daughter Dawn flew out to Oklahoma where Wendy has lived since 1956 after marrying an American GI when she was 17 years old.

She has always known about having a brother who was adopted. But John, 62, who has four children and 16 grandchildren, did not even discover he had a twin until he was in his forties, but drew a blank when he tried to find her.

"Meeting Wendy was fantastic, absolutely out of this world," he said. "Words can't express how I feel.

"It's like there was a gap in my life and now it's been filled. After 63 years I suddenly have a sister.

"A massive lottery win couldn't replace the elation I felt setting eyes on my sister for the first time.

"We've become friends, soulmates, everything rolled into one. There was such a bond, such a closeness.

"It was a wonderful experience for Dawn because my sister treated her as if she was her own daughter. Now she has family she never thought she had."

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