Through the power of social media, Abergavenny siblings were reunited with their half-brother who was adopted at birth.

Darren Richards and his sister, Leonie Roberts, posted an appeal on Facebook after their dad, who has Alzheimer's, went missing.

They found their dad and, in the process, discovered their half-brother who unknowingly moved to Abergavenny and was living just over three miles from his biological family.

In the Facebook post, Darren wrote: “The other bit of news that we didn't expect to have when we were searching for just one relative was to find another...

“We were contacted recently after someone saw our appeal and found out that our dad had a son who was adopted at birth. After getting in touch this week, we met up.

"Greg only found out he was adopted in his 30s when he traced his dad, but they decided it was better to keep it quiet.

“Both dad and Greg moved to Abergavenny separately, blissfully unaware!

“Anyway, because of our appeal here, we now have a new half-brother and we all met this week.”

Greg Shearman, 54, grew up in East London with his parents and sister. He learned about his adoption in his mid-30s after being unable to find his birth certificate online. He approached his parents, who told him he was adopted.

When he found out he was adopted, he contacted his social worker, who told him he needed to call his biological mother first thing in the morning, as she had been waiting for his call since his 18th birthday.

His biological mother has since passed away, but they regularly met between Abergavenny and London, where she was living at the time, and she told him she gave him up for adoption because she wanted a better life for him.

He traced his biological father who coincidentally was living just over three miles away, but Greg said: “We met up once, but he wasn't really in the right place to introduce me to the family.

“We left it at that and didn’t meet up again until he went missing and I came across my half siblings. 

“It turns out I have mutual friends with them both, and I even play cricket with one of Darren's friends.

"Obviously, it wasn't great that he had gone missing, but the story has turned out positive as he was found and relations have come out of the woodwork.'

Since learning about his adoption, Greg uses his experience to encourage others to adopt a child and emphasises the importance of being honest with them about their background.