A FAMILY torn apart by cruelty is finding new happiness after more than 40 years in the wilderness.

Christine Anderson and two of her four long-lost brothers, who were deserted in the 50s by their drunken parents, have been reunited thanks to a vow from new husband, Chris, and his computer skills.

Just a month after his Internet search began an emotional Christine, aged 65, of Windermere Road, Leigh, has met up with brother David Pilkington, aged 63, in Ashton-under-Lyne and oldest brother Ernest, aged 67, in Blackburn.

The hunt is continuing for her two youngest brothers, James, aged 57, and John, aged 53, who were adopted together and who are believed to be living in the Liverpool area.

The tragic story, of Dickensian proportions, unfolded in the early 1950s in Blackburn.

Born to a travelling family the Pilkington children had a rough upbringing and their parents, who are now dead, were frequently drunk and left the children in one room to fend for themselves. They spent most of their money on booze depriving the children of love, food and clothing.

At the age of seven Christine, who became a little mum to the younger boys, was often locked in the room, beaten and forbidden to go to school. David, who was very close to her, was forced onto the streets to beg and do errands for market stall holders to get money for food. Very often they had to resort to eating baby food to stay alive.

Christine tells a heartbreaking story of how the family, which was often left to starve, was split up. She says their mother, who spent most of her time in the pub, took them to the pictures and told them when the film had finished she wouldn't be coming back to pick them up and they must walk to their grandparents' home over 12 miles away in Colne.

There they slept on the floor and in the cellar.

Christine now believes her grandparents could not cope with all the children and when she heard them talking about contacting the authorities she led her brothers in to the cellar to hide away from the "cruelty man". Unfortunately when he arrived the baby cried, gave the game away and the children were taken away in an ambulance in front of neighbours, split up and were never to meet up again - until now.

"It was heartbreaking," said Christine, "I never got over it and cried all the time. I wondered about them every day."

David, Ernest and Christine were taken to an orphanage and told the younger boys would be in later, but they were never seen again.

From the age of 8-16 Christine was passed from pillar to post through orphanages, foster homes and boarding school, though Ernest was collected by his grandparents and brought up in Blackburn.

Their mother, who had three of the five children before she was 20, and their Wigan born father, who came home from the war mentally disturbed, were jailed for cruelty for 12 and 18 months respectively.

Husband Chris said: "It's a shame the family was blown apart. Chris and I met five years ago and we got married this year. I always thought it was sad that she said she had no family. I made her a promise that I'd do all I could to find her brothers and started on the quest last month. I have been in IT all my life so dealing with data and the Internet are second nature to me.

"Four weeks ago exciting information came through and I made an emotional phone call to David and discovered he and Ernest had been trying to find her. They had walked the streets of Leigh but because her name had changed from Pilkington they had no luck.

"David phoned back later the same night and they spoke for the first time in over 40 years. The call was made on Friday and they met on Saturday and have been in touch ever since.

"David and Ernest had found each other but lost contact again, and after another couple of days Ernest was tracked down and Christine, who has one daughter, was reunited with him a week later. She was overwhelmed to discover she had nephews and nieces, cousins and an uncle and aunt she had never met.

"Christine is a very gentle and timid person and it has taken me two years to get her where she is today growing in confidence. She's thrilled to have been reunited with some of her family which is growing very quickly.

"I am now on the trail of John and James and my reward will be to see all five of them spend at least one day together."

Christine, who came to Leigh at the age of 16, remembers washing her hair in cold water in a stable and her mother swinging her round with her hair. She recalls that she and David, who never had a Christmas present, were run over by a taxi while begging on Christmas Eve and their mother later spending the compensation money on drink.

And she says that despite the cruelty she used to go to her orphanage gates and pray for her parents to come and collect them.

On their reunion David, who presented Christine with a gold bracelet, said: "It is better than winning the lottery. She is like an angel. My mother used to abuse us all and Christine had a terrible life, but now I feel things are coming right for us. I had given up on ever finding her despite appeals to TV shows."

Christine laid her mother's ghost to rest when on her second trip to see Ernest, they visited her grave.

"I wish I hadn't now," said Christine, "I can never forgive her for what she did to us."

She continued: "It was wonderful to see my brothers. So many years have gone by and I really thought I'd never see them again.

"Chris promised he would find them for me but I didn't think he'd be able to. Now he has and I'm so happy.

"He is not only my husband he is my best friend, I can never thank him enough for what he has done. If we can just find my two younger brothers life will be complete."