AN ITALIAN woman who was born after her mother had a brief affair with a British soldier during the Second World War has visited the home where her father was born.

Margherita Almond, who never knew her dad Edwin Almond, was close to tears outside Albert Street, Clayton-le-Moors.

She was accompanied by her son Guiseppe, his girlfriend Connie, local historian June Huntingdon and her half-brother Bob Almond who she met through June.

Margherita said: "I have been crying for days. This is a very happy day for me. This is the place where my father lived and for me it is very emotional to see the door where every day he was in and out. I never saw my father but this makes him come alive."

Although Margherita never met her dad, she used his surname and managed to track down her relatives because her birth certificate told her that Edwin lived in Clayton-le-Moors.

She wrote to "The Mayor of Clayton-le-Moors" and the letter was passed on to Accrington Town Hall officials, who enlisted the help of June.

June tracked down Bob, who lives in Derbyshire, and stunned him with the bombshell news that he had a half-sister.

Bob's family sent a letter back through June and three weeks later he went to Verona and arranged an emotional meeting with Margherita. Margherita, who is married and has another son back in her home town of Sorrento, near Naples, was born in 1946, when Edwin, who served with the Second Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers, was 39. Edwin died 28 years ago and his wife, who never knew about her husband's Italian love child, died in 1985.

Edwin left Margherita's mum Carmela Parisi after being posted to Austria and they never saw each other again. Margherita added: "The first time I met Bob was very exciting and moving. He is my only brother."

Bob, the youngest of five children, said: "It was a massive shock when we found out about Margherita and some of the family didn't want to know.

"We were always aware of some relationship in Italy but no one would ever talk about it. I was really pleased to meet her and it is great to come back to where our dad lived. She is the spitting image of him and has got big ears like the rest of the family. When we first met I spotted her straight away."