JUST a week after the Herts Advertiser shared a woman’s dreams of finding her father she has been reunited with him.

And she has now said she will never look at a local newspaper in the same way.

Hayley Flitton’s birth dad, John Byrne, jumped on a plane as soon as he could to meet his long-lost daughter and her family, including his three grandchildren.

Since then they have been communicating regularly and he is even planning on coming back over to England just before New Year’s Eve.

News of her story travelled to Ireland, where her father is based, within a day. Now she is convinced “things happen for a reason” and said she is still in shock.

The 35 year old said: “It’s just so weird I’ve got a mum and a dad.”

Not only can she see herself in him, they also apparently share the same humour, despite having never met.

She said: “It’s like we’ve always known each other.”

Even stranger, Hayley said when her dad first heard about the article he said “oh my god I bet her name is Hayley”.

The story got back to John through his brother Kevin who is still in the area.

John met Hayley’s mum when they were both working at Shenley Hospital. He went back to Ireland and didn’t know that Hayley even existed.

She said: “He was so over the moon and happy that we found him.”

Hayley, of Frogmore, said her life was definitely whole now and that finding her dad has removed a weight from her shoulders.

“I’m not worrying or always thinking, ‘I wonder what my dad’s like?’. There’s no more stress. He said the same thing – he always felt like there was something missing.”

John, a hospital consultant, is just as happy following their meeting: “I just can’t express how good it was.”

The 55 year old said that finding out you had a daughter you didn’t know about was like “being knocked out and woken up at the same time”.

He added: “It’s absolutely wonderful.”

When asked if he could see a likeness between him and his long-lost daughter he said: “Of course I did, when I saw the first paper with the picture of Hayley I saw it.

“I saw the eyes and knew immediately. I had very little doubt.”

John, who has another daughter, said that he is going to visit Hayley many more times, adding: “This is just the beginning.”