A daughter has told how her search for her missing dad ended with an emotional call to New Zealand.

Maria Hooper, 34, has not seen her dad since her parents split up over 30 years ago.

In September 1998 she decided to search for her dad, John Gall, 62, who, unknown to her, moved to New Zealand after the split.

The search ended on Christmas Eve when Mrs Hooper made a call to her father.

Now he is to visit his daughter - and the two grandchildren he has never seen - in August, which will also be his 63rd birthday.

Mrs Hooper, of Station Road, Clacton, said: "When I thought I had found him I was terrified of making that first contact. I did not know what I was going to find, but I could not have hoped for it to have been as good.

"I keep telling strangers in the street!"

She began searching through the Salvation Army but they drew a blank.

Then her grandfather said Mr Gall may have gone to New Zealand. Care assistant Mrs Hooper had friends who had family there and they set about looking.

The helper managed to find a John Frederic Gall in Auckland and Mrs Hooper wrote a "careful" letter to him.

His reply arrived on Christmas Eve and Mrs Cooper then spent the day preparing to call him at midnight.

She said: "He wrote back and included his phone number. I only managed to read the first two lines, I couldn't read the rest for crying."

Since the reunion she has sent numerous pictures of herself and two children, five-year-old Poppy and three-year-old Niles .

"It was the best Christmas present ever and the best possible start to the new year. I've spoke to him four times in the past week for six hours.

"We've written and written and sent photos by e-mail," she added.

Mrs Hooper now hopes her search will inspire others to try to find lost relatives or friends.

She was 4 years old when her parents split up. She went to live with her father and uncle for a while but her dad had just joined the prison service and the pressure of work and lack of accommodation forced him to give her up.

He left England distraught and has never been back since as "he could not face the pain", Mrs Hooper said.

Mrs Hooper previously lived in Hong Kong, Germany and Cyprus as her stepfather was in the Army.

Mr Gall also has two brothers of whom Mrs Hooper was unaware. After leaving England he worked for Coca Cola, for Barnardo's as a fundraiser, as a railway steward, helped build an oil rig off-shore, and now runs an antique business.

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