'Many people come to me to solve a lifelong mystery'

Genealogist Michelle Leonard uncovers the truth about families, even when it is painful, she tells James Tapper

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Michelle Leonard, a genealogist and DNA detective who worked on The Observer's Foundling podcast series, said she is encountering a growing number of cases where people are trying to uncover the truth about their families and heritage using firms such as Ancestry and 23andMe.

The ancestral genetic testing industry is already valued by market analysts at more than £500m in the UK and is expected to grow substantially. It was boosted last year by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority's decision to give people born after 1 April 2005 access to their donor’s identity.

“Many, many people come to me to solve questions like ‘who was my father?’, ‘who was my grandfather?’ because they’ve grown up not knowing,” Leonard said. “I've had everyone from people in their 20s to people well into their 90s who thought they would never get the answer to this lifelong mystery, and now they’re told this thing exists that might give them the answer.

“It’s an amazing thing for so many people, but it has to be used in the right way, and it can also cause a lot of upset and pain as well.”