A Bradford pensioner has made a desperate plea for help in the search for her mystery twin sister.

Ruth Bennett, formerly Morland, from Great Horton, has been separated from Ida Kathleen for nearly 70 years - despite being born just five minutes before her.

And a three-year search has failed to find the relative who until recently was treated as a taboo subject within the family.

Mrs Bennett said she had no memories of her sister although she knew she had been a twin all her life.

"Something was ingrained in my brain when I was a child," she said. "It must have been my mother who told me, but she was taken away when I was young. Many of the other relatives wouldn't have anything to do with it. This is my last hope."

She added she did not even know whether she was an identical twin.

The daughters of John and Sarah Morland were born at 6.45am and 6.50am on July 17, 1931, in Seaham, Co Durham. Ruth was moved to a children's home with her younger sister Doreen at the age of seven after her mother was taken into residential care.

It was only when she applied to the office of National Statistics in 1997 that the birth certificate of her twin was unearthed. The certificate was marked 'adopted' but searches by more than 40 relations in the Sunderland area have drawn a blank.

Doreen, who also lives in Great Horton, said Ruth's twin had been a mystery as long as she could remember.

She said: "I remember our older brother's wife once or twice saying, 'I wonder what Ida's doing now'. But I never thought about it and now the secret may have gone to the grave. It's like an Agatha Christie mystery. It's plagued our lives, especially Ruth's."

Ruth, who left the children's home at 14 to work in Bradford's mills, is now hoping her twin can be found in time to celebrate their 70th birthday next year.

If anyone can help, contact Doreen on (01274) 817890 or her niece Linda Gething on (0191) 513 1039.