Internet date leads to family reunion

Sarah Kemp, 42, said she travelled from her Edinburgh home to London to meet George Bentley after hitting it off via the internet, only to find out they were siblings.

The cleaner said she had been exchanging emails with Mr Bentley, 47, for three months but only realised they were related while chatting about their childhoods over a pub lunch.

They were apparently born to the same parents in Ashford, Kent, but were separated when their mother and father split.

Ms Kemp, who was six at the time, joined her mother in Edinburgh and David, 11, went to east London with his father.

She said they tried to search for one another as adults but had no luck.

Mr Bentley, a builder from East Ham, east London, did not know his sister had married and changed her name. She has since divorced. Ms Kemp said: “Can you imagine the surprise, joy and embarrassment we both felt? It was such a crazy thing. We had so much in common, and we really enjoyed each other’s company.

“It was as if we’d known each other all our lives.”

Mr Bentley said: “I had absolutely no idea where she was. I was searching for Sarah Bentleys, rather than Sarah Kemps, as I obviously didn’t know she married.”