A MOTHER has been reunited with her daughter 44 years after she was forced to give her up for adoption.

But their emotional reunion only came about after 62-year-old Marlene Houston hit the headlines after finding love with playground sweetheart Gordon Johnson through the Friends Reunited website.

Her daughter, Gillian Halliday, who grew up in Stanley, County Durham, had tried to trace her without luck - until she saw the newspaper report.

"The pieces just seemed to fit together,"

she said. "Marlene is an unusual name and where she grew up all tied in with what I knew."

The pair arranged to meet, along with Gordon and Gillian's partner, Neville Sterling.

Ms Halliday, a team leader at Tesco, in Consett, said: "It was very emotional. We both cried and hung on to each other for absolutely ages. We received some strange looks from passers-by.

"I already knew she hadn't wanted to give me up, but had been made to by her family. I was still scared of rejection though."

Mrs Houston said: "For the past 44 years, a day hasn't gone by when I haven't thought of my baby.

"The feelings I had for her when I first held her in my arms never went away. It is incredible we should find each other like this."

Ms Halliday has two daughters, Ashleigh, 19, and Rachel, 16.

She grew up in Stanley with adoptive mother Elsie Marley, 79, father Ronald, who died 24 years ago, and sister Judith Bryant, 48, who is also adopted.

Mrs Houston last held her daughter, who she had named Yvonne, when, aged 17, she was forced by her parents to place her six-week-old baby up for adoption.

"Giving her up was heartbreaking, but I had no choice. I was 17 and my family circumstances were not very good," she said.

Mrs Houston, who has two other children, Sherin, 42, and Michael, 41, three grandchildren and nine foster children who she has cared for over the years through Barnardo's, has just moved from her Newcastle home to live with Gordon in Carlisle. They plan to marry later this year.

She said: "It is wonderful our families are getting together. I have grandchildren I never knew I had. Everyone I need is around me now and I feel like life is complete."