Gene specialist helps man dumped at birth trace roots

A UNIVERSITY researcher has helped a man abandoned at birth in Gatwick airport to trace his genetic roots.

Dr Jim Wilson, of Edinburgh University's Centre for Population Health Sciences, analysed the man's DNA to identify where his parents may have come from.

Steve Hydes, now 25, was found as a ten-day-old baby on the floor of a ladies toilet in Gatwick airport. His parents had wrapped him in a blanket and he was well fed and cared for, but they left no identification or indication of where he might have come from.

Having been adopted and raised in England, and after years wondering about his ancestry, Steve decided to trace details of his background.

Dr Wilson said: "Our research showed that his family were likely to be English with some Irish ancestry.

"As more and more people take genetic ancestry tests I am certain that we will eventually find a closer cousin of Steven's which might one day lead him to his father and mother."