A bus driver searching for his adopted sister has stumbled across a long-lost aunt in his quest.

Paul Hawkins, 33, appealed in November for information about a sister he had no idea existed until an aunt let slip the family secret.

Mr Hawkins, who works for Eastbourne Buses, said as a result of his search he was contacted by his uncle's first wife.

He had never met Janet Robbins, who lives in Brighton, but during his first visit she gave him photographs of his sister at six months old with their mother.

He said: "I arranged to go round and visit her and she had photographs of my sister. I was quite shocked.

"You can't see if there's a family resemblance because they're black and white but you can definitely tell it's my mum. I was amazed.

"My mum went round to see Mrs Robbins nearly every day before the baby was given up for adoption.

"She was married to my uncle a long time ago. If we hadn't contacted The Argus she never would have got in touch with me.

"It's funny. I still get people coming up to me and saying they saw me on the front of The Argus and asking how it's going or if I've found her."

Mr Hawkins, of Latimer Road, Eastbourne, said he had found a birth certificate for his sister, born Caroline Childs, and had contacted the National Organisation for Counselling Adoptees and Parents (Norcap) in a bid to trace her.

His mother, Christine, who died nine years ago from cancer, had never spoken of the child she had at 13 and swore her sister Brenda to secrecy.

Mr Hawkins discovered he had a sister at the beginning of November after his aunt broke down in tears and revealed the secret she had kept hidden for more than 40 years.

He believes his sister was adopted in the Brighton area.

He said: "In those days if you were a single mother there was a lot of pressure on you to give the baby away and, if you didn't, no one wanted anything to do with you.

"I haven't given up but I am leaving it to Norcap now. I still have a feeling that someone in Brighton knows something more about her.

"There's a good chance she still doesn't know she was adopted but I didn't know I had a sister either so I will keep trying."