A 98-YEAR-OLD woman was stunned to discover she has a half-brother and sister she never knew existed.

Phyllis Miller from Ellesmere Port learned of her long-lost relatives after her son Alan researched their family tree on the internet.

And now the incredible discovery will lead to an emotional family reunion.

The genealogy enthusiast had been uncovering his roots on an ancestry website for more than a year when he made the remarkable find.

Phyllis' father, George Wilkinson, split from her mother Matilda shortly after the First World War and she never saw him again.

Unknown to her, he remarried and had three children. The eldest, John Wilkinson, died about five years ago but Joe, 80, and Janet, 73, are alive and living on the Wirral.

Mr Miller said: 'It was a big shock for my mother. She had absolutely no idea they existed.

'Genealogy is very popular at the moment. I started a year ago and it's just unbelievable what you find.

'She may never have known she had this family living so close. Her half-sister Janet can't stop talking about it.

'My mother isn't too well at the moment and is staying at Sutton Beeches care home but they're all going to meet for the first time later this month.'

This isn't the first time Mrs Miller has tracked down long-lost family members.

Following her parents split her mother was unable to cope with caring for Phyllis, her brother George and sister Nellie.

Subsequentially they were all separated, with Phyllis moving to live with a family in Stockport. George was sent to live in Canada and Nellie moved to Holywell.

After moving to Ellesmere Port in 1933, Phyllis decided to try and track down her siblings.

She put an advert in a national newspaper and by chance her brother, who was stationed at Coventry with the Royal Air Force, saw it and cycled all the way to the town to be reunited with his sister.

Both then successfully tracked down Nellie who now lives in Little Sutton.