A CHANCE phone call by a Leytonstone woman led to a family being reunited after 60 years.

Siobhan Crosbie, 43, decided to contact the BBC’s Crimewatch programme after seeing an appeal for help with an unsolved murder in the 1970s.

She thought the female victim may be her aunt, Annie Crosbie, 69, whom had not seen since by her relatives since she was a teenager.

However, police officer Claire Wheeler discovered Annie was alive and well and living in Bradford.

This led to Siobhan organising and emotional reunion between Annie and her sister Christine Flynn, 79, who had lost touch after emigrating to Australia.

Miss Crosbie, 43, of Colworth Road, said: "Words cannot describe how we feel. It is the most exciting event our lives.

“It's been absolutely mental. We've had loads of ceilidhs being an Irish family and there has been plenty of parties and drinking going on."

The sisters’ mother died aged just 33 and because their father was serving in the army, they were initially left in the care of a 17-year-old aunt in Dublin.

They were later sent to live with another aunt, Molly Feeney, but were placed in a care home when her husband fell ill.

Christine, then 13, and two-year-old brother Paddy moved in with their late mother’s family in England, while Annie and the other children lived separately in different parts of Ireland.

The sisters kept in touch until Christine decided to move to Australia.

She said: "My son was diagnosed with asthma and the doctor recommended going to Australia because of the dry climate.

"It was also a time when the Australians were looking for people from England to come over and work there."

Annie added: "I didn't want to go because I had a good job and somewhere to live. I had just come over from Ireland and I felt settled."

Despite the separation the pair never gave up hope that they would see each other again.

Annie, 69, said: "I had a picture of Christine when she was a teenager. I clung to that hoping one day I would see her."

However, one day Annie received a letter from Crimewatch.

She said: "It said my sister was trying to get in touch with me and asked if I wanted to respond because it had been a long time.

"I thought why not, it would be great to see her after all these years."