Long Lost Family: Woman discovers huge family secret after being locked in cupboard as a child

A woman who thought she was an only child growing up overheard a huge family secret after her grandparents locked her in a cupboard as punishment.

During last night’s Long Lost Family, Susane King explained that she was raised by her grandparents as her mother felt she was too young to take care of her.

Susane, who had a ‘difficult childhood’ recalled how they used to lock her in the cupboard under the stairs to punish her.

‘Their approach to bringing up children was quite archaic,’ she began. ‘There were no cuddles, no love. My grandfather had a very quick temper and he was usually quicker with his fists than anything.

‘Sometimes when they said I was naughty they would lock me in the cupboard, under the stairs.’

However, little did Susane know that she would later go on to discover a huge secret that she was never meant to find out.

She continued: ‘There were raised voices talking about my birth mother and the fact that she had another child.’

It wasn’t until years later that Susane dared to confront her grandmother and asked for the full story.

She confirmed that Susane had not one but two sisters who had been adopted.

‘I couldn’t stop thinking about them,’ she added. ‘I was just really desperate to find them.’

The 60-year-old and her husband, who have been foster parents for over twenty years, managed to track down her birth mother in hopes of finding more about her sisters.

Speaking to the camera Susane said: ‘Unfortunately she doesn’t want to know me or having anything to do with my sisters. I think perhaps she had very damaged by life but I respect her wishes.

‘It gave me nothing to go on at all.’

Two years ago, Susane had a breakthrough and found two of her sisters – Julie and Linda – and searching through birth records.

She had no idea where they lived, but as motivation to find them, Susane hung their birth certificates on the wall at her home.

With the help of the team at Long Lost Families, Susane was able to track down her sister Julie, who had later changed her name to Lorna.

It was only then she made the heartbreaking discovery that her other sister, Lorna had died in 1991.

As they focused on finding Susane’s younger sister Linda, they found out that she had also changed her name to Donna.

In an emotional reunion, both Susane and Donna finally got to meet, although, in an unexpected twist they discovered that their sister Lorna had children before she died.

They managed to track Lorna’s eldest daughter Lorraine, who was able to share fond memories of her mum.

‘I can pass on every single memory that I’ve got to both Susane and Donna,’ Lorraine began. ‘I know they won’t get to see my mum in person, but they will be able to know what she was like.

‘I just want to go outside and jump up and down.’

Long Lost Family returns on Monday at 9pm on ITV.

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