The final piece of the jigsaw puzzle has fallen into place for Jill Martin, who, after years of unanswered questions, finally found her long-lost father.

The 65-year-old, of The Grove, Deal, came to the town when she was just five weeks old and was adopted by Mary and Arthur Hobbs, of College Road.

Her adoptive parents were always honest with Jill and from the start told her she had been born to different parents.

The adoption took place at Deal Town Hall in 1951 at the cost of 12 shillings (60p).

She knew she was born Susan Jones and her mother was Mary Matilda Jones, but years went by before she found out more.

She said: “As I grew up, even though I had a lovely family, you can’t help wondering who you are.

"I have a lovely family of my own now and I wanted them to be able to see who they looked like. It’s always in the back of your mind. It’s like a jigsaw with a piece missing.”

Jill was told by her parents there was a court hearing at the town hall, in which her biological mother Mary said Jill’s dad loved her and would marry her in an effort to get her baby back.

By then baby Jill had already been living with the Hobbs and they feared they would lose her.

Mr Hobbs tracked down her real father and asked him if he was going to marry her mum – but despite Mr Hobbs describing him as a lovely man, he said he couldn’t marry her.

Mrs Martin, a retired P&O Ferries sales manager, grew up, married her husband Jeff, and for years knew nothing about her real parents.

Then in 1972, when Jill was 21, her adoptive mum Mary died, aged 50, shortly after a bike accident.

A couple of years later her adoptive father Arthur died unexpectedly, aged 51.

Jill said: “Just before he died, he asked me if I wanted to see my mum and I said no because I didn’t want to upset him – but I did, I was so curious. And then, two weeks later, he died.”

In 2012, Jill contacted the town council to see if it would have any records of her adoption.

She was then passed to a department in Maidstone, and before long it had given Jill a book full of information on her parents and the adoption.

She discovered that her father’s name was Luke Dickens and that he had been 24 when she was born. Her mother, Mary Jones, was 27, and had already been married to Bertie Jones and had two children: Lynda with her first husband, and David with a soldier from the war, who were both left with relatives.

Mary was divorced from her first husband but because she was not married to Jill’s father, she was sent to the Association of Protected Girls for three months.

Jill said: “I think Mary went through a lot, often women are made to look like the bad ones.” In 2012, Jill was told that her mum had died in 2009 but that her dad was still thought to be alive.

Jill, who recently appeared on Couples Come Dine With Me, has three children – Bonnie, 42, Jessica, 39, and Sam, 34.

Her son-in-law Ray tracked down his father on a website called missingyou.net, so she decided to give it a go.

“I knocked on the door and he opened it and he looked at me and it was an instant connection." - Mrs Martin

It was July 3, 2012, and she discovered a Luke Dickens and Mary Jones were married in December 1951, nine months after Jill was adopted. She then found a Luke Dickens, 86, and called him the next morning.

Jill said: “I had three questions. I said ‘I’m looking for my birth father’. I said ‘does a Mary Dickens live with you?’, and he said she died a couple of years ago.

I asked if she had lived in Smethwick, and he said yes, and then I said ‘were you married in 1951?’ and he said yes. I said ‘I think you are my father’ and he said ‘I always thought this day would happen. You are welcome in my home any time’.”

Two days later, she had met her real father – and her real brother Joe. Jill said: “I knocked on the door and he opened it and he looked at me and it was an instant connection. He is a warm, kind man. He was lovely and my husband gets on with him like a house on fire.”

Her dad, who is now 89, told her he was married to her mum for 59 years.

They had two other children, Janet and Joe. Sadly, Janet died and now her dad and Joe live together near Birmingham.

Jill said: “He said ‘it’s all my fault’. He was 24, and he wasn’t ready for commitment and bottled out but then he couldn’t let her go and he realised he loved her. They got married, but by that time, I had gone.

“He said there wasn’t one day that went by that he didn’t wonder about me.”

Not only did Jill find her father and brother but a large extended family of cousins, nieces and aunts. Her sister Janet, who died aged 38 from a rare form of cancer, had two daughters, Andrea and Claire, who now have their own children at similar ages to Jill’s grandchildren.

She has two uncles, Jack and Jim, an aunt Joan, and lots of cousins. Jill said: “From having nobody I’ve got masses of family now. I’ve found a great family and I’m extremely lucky.”

But there were still two missing pieces of the puzzle.

Before her mum met Luke, she had two children, David and Lynda, with different fathers.

She found that David had died but, through her new-found cousin Martin Matthews and his partner Sue Jarvis, she managed to track down her half-sister: “I know my mum and dad, Arthur and Mary, would be delighted for me.

“Now I know who I am. It makes the jigsaw complete.”