AN ANDOVER grandmother who was forced to give up her baby as a teenage mother has been reunited with her daughter 55 years later.

Marion Jones, 73, was tracked down by her daughter Julie, 55, and on Tuesday night the pair appeared on ITV’s Long Lost Family.

As a teenager Marion had got into a relationship with a man and fell pregnant, but when she shared the news the father revealed he was married and did not want anything to do with little girl.

Marion’s mother would not let her keep the baby so she spent six weeks with Julie in a mother and baby home before she was “snatched” by social workers and adopted into another family.

Speaking on the programme, Marion said: “Because I was an unmarried mother I got treated like dirt. There was no sympathy, no compassion.”

During her time in the home Marion used to knit Julie clothes and pray there was some way they could stay together.

But, when social workers came for Julie, Marion had to go to the nursery, strip the cot and then she said she just “got on with” her life.

However, Julie had been brought up knowing she was adopted and, when she was 18, she began searching for her mother, despite knowing few details about her life.

The search came to a standstill over 30 years ago, and Julie lived with the guilt that she had caused her mother pain in being forced to give her up.

She explained: “I changed a life and I have carried the guilt, which is not my fault obviously, but thinking, I hope I haven’t wrecked her life. Until I find out, that guilt will never go away.”

At first, producers struggled to track down Marion because of her common name, but they eventually located her after gaining access to Julie’s adoption file.

In an heartwarming twist to the story, Marion went on to work in a mother and baby home to make sure other young mums weren’t treated the same way.

When they finally met, and as the cameras were rolling, Julie threw her arms around her mother, as Marion said it had “been too long”.

“Hello Mum, if I’m allowed to call you that?” Julie said.

Marion replied that “of course”, adding: “It’s wonderful to be with her and have her in my arms again. She’s my daughter and she‘s absolutely beautiful.”

Marion, who is now married and a grandmother, told the programme that she always remembered her daughter by marking her name on her birthday in her diary every year.

Marion said she felt “whole again” when they reunited, while Julie said “the wound had healed”.

Julie told her she’d had a happy childhood and she’d done the right thing by giving her a better life.

She added: “It’s just lovely knowing Marion’s ok. I feel all this pain has been lifted.” This wound has healed now.

“It just feels natural because she hasn’t ever stopped being my mum. You’ve got that bond together, that connection. It’s the start of my life again now.”