BRIAN Chappell unashamedly wept tears of joy on Australian national television when he met up with the brother he never knew he had.

And as the cameras rolled, his emotional embrace with his brother Roy ended his amazing year of discovery.

As the Citizen exclusively revealed in January, the self-employed plumber from Hoddlesden had traced not one but THREE brothers in a whirlwind 12 months.

Two of them Graham, 42, and Martin, 46, were found living in Oxford while Roy was traced in Australia.

Now back at his Kings Drive home, Brian, 51, said: "It's been like a fairytale. Meeting up with Roy was so natural. I was really nervous, especially when I saw all the cameras. But when he came up to me and gave me a big hug it was fantastic. I burst into tears I just couldn't help myself because I was so overjoyed."

Brian flew to Melbourne with his wife Marlene and brother Martin for the reunion which was made possible by the Salvation Army in Australia who traced Roy.

"We had a terrific time," added Brian who had a surprise party laid on for him in his brother's home town of Wagaratta. "During the break we travelled all around the state of Victoria and all we did was talk. We had a lot of catching up to do.

"The whole family got on really well. It was as if we'd known each other for ever."

His wife Marlene said: "We're going to make sure we stay in touch now. Roy wants to come over next January and we are going to make it an annual event."

Brian added: "As you can imagine, saying goodbye was terrible. There were even more tears than when we first met. Over those couple of weeks we got really close and we love him. It is as simple as that."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.