Sisters reunite with long-lost eldest sibling after DNA match

TWO women found their long-lost sister after a 57-year search thanks to a DNA test - and thought the results were an "April Fool's prank".

- HOLLY MEI-YU STAFFORD

Sisters Trish Caller, 61, and June Thompson, 63, spent their lives searching for their eldest sibling, Geraldine Ratcliffe, 77.

Geraldine, from Horwich, Bolton, was only four years old when she was put up for adoption by their late mum, Mary Wills, 84.

After having Geraldine at 21 in 1948, she was forced to give her up in 1952, and went on to meet Peter Wills, whom she married in 1956.

The couple welcomed three children - Geraldine's younger half-siblings - Trish, June and Stephen Wills, 65, whom they raised in Taunton, Somerset.

Despite always knowing they had an older sister, Trish and June weren't able to find Geraldine before their mum Mary died from terminal liver cancer in 2011.

It wasn’t until Trish's daughter, Laura Polley, 34, took a DNA test in 2023 from Ancestry.co.uk, which matched with Geraldine in April 2025.

On April 1, 2025, Laura reached out to Geraldine through email and had to reassure her it wasn’t an “April Fool's joke”.