Long Lost Family - Born Without Trace: Peterborough man dumped in flats as a baby speaks of joy at meeting mum's family for first time

David Stevenson had spent a lifetime wondering who he really was – who his ‘blood’ family was – after he was left in a block of flats as a week old baby.

He never knew who his parents were – where they were from, and why he had been left, wrapped in a rainbow coloured blanket, in that London building on a cold Thursday in December, 65 years ago.

But now, thanks to ITV’s Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace, he finally has some answers – and has met his family for the first time.

David and wife Julie (a former Peterborough City Councillor) had been searching to uncover David’s story since 2009 – but the pair had hit a brick wall in their investigations, despite DNA research and a national campaign.

On Monday (August 3), ITV viewers were able to watch the moment he was told who his mum was – and when he met her family.

David and Julie, who live in the Ortons, had been in contact with Long Lost Family for a number of years, but it was only in the winter of this year when the production crew started their work in earnest into the story.

"I had to go through stages of grief, of anger. It was very difficult. It took a long time to process.”

Sadly, quite early on in the research, the team were able to identify David’s mum as a Dutch lady called Petra – but sadly she had died in 2010, just a year after David and Julie started their research.

David said: “The possibility of identifying relatives and identifying my birth mother became real. The thought she could be alive. Then we were told they had found out who she was, but she had died. We went through a lot of emotions.

"I had to go through stages of grief, of anger. It was very difficult. It took a long time to process.

"Davina (host Davina McCall) came round and showed us a picture of her and a letter, and what they had been able to find out.”

The whole afternoon where we met was such a joy. We just talked and talked"

However, the ITV team had managed to track down David’s mum’s family – and he was able to meet them in Rotterdam.

There was not a dry eye in the house as David met his ‘new’ family, and they shared photographs, memories, stories and theories.

David said it had been a joyous occasion. He said: “I went there, and met with my mum’s sister, Marianne, and my cousins, Saskia and Bart.

"It could have been very difficult for them. They said that my mum had never told anyone about me, and what happened, and why she did what she did. We know she didn’t have any more children.

"But they were all so welcoming. The whole afternoon where we met was such a joy. We just talked and talked. It really was a pleasure to meet them.”

David was able to learn that his mum was just 20 when he was born, and had come to London from Paris to work as an Au Pair. It is believed she became pregnant in Paris, as DNA tests have shown David has a French father.

She later left London, returning to her native Netherlands.

While being able to learn who his family is has provided some answers, for David and Julie, trying to piece together why he was left in the flats in Golders Green has provided another challenge.

Julie said: “We think it was an arrangement that had gone wrong. Petra grew up in a Catholic household, so having a child out of wedlock would have been difficult.

"We still don’t know if it was his birth mother who left him there, or if it was someone else.”

"There's still a lot to find out, but now I'm not alone. I've got the Dutch family with me"

David said he was still learning about his past – and his Dutch heritage – months after meeting his family.

He said: "I always thought that finding these answers would have been something that was just out of reach. Julie has been optimistic, because one of the things about her is that once she decides to do something, she’ll do it.

"There's still a lot to find out, but now I'm not alone. I've got the Dutch family with me. So we're asking questions back and forth.”

He also spoke of how the family who adopted him six decades ago had been supportive of his search throughout his life.

David, now a father of three, was full of praise for the ITV team, who had offered support along the way, whenever difficult discoveries were made.

He appeared on This Morning with his cousin, Saskia, to talk about their journey – and he is still in regular contact with his Dutch relatives.

The programme revealed that because of French privacy laws, there was no news about the identity of his father.

The first episode of the eighth series of Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace is now available on ITV X.