Kiran Sheikh was two hours old when she was abandoned at a call box in
Forest Gate, east London on April 30, 1994. Her mother, who was trapped
in a violent relationship, gave birth on the floor in her bathroom,
dumped the child and called Samaritans, urging them to come quickly for
the baby.
“My mum told the police she was in a really abusive relationship which
is why she had to give me up,” Sheik explained. “He was violent, angry
and a stalker. He was always following her and wouldn’t let her go
anywhere.”
Her biological father is in prison in Canad for attempted murder after he stabbed another ex-girfriend 30 times.
Joe Campbell had gone to make a phone call at the box to his family back
in Nigeria, when he found the baby wrapped in blankets. He initially
thought it was a ‘bag of chips’, called the police, and rushed her to
Newham General Hospital before charity workers arrived.
Officers launched an appeal to try and find the abandoned baby’s mum but
didn’t find her until two years later, when she was hospitalised while
giving birth to her eighth child.
By that time, the she had been adopted by a Pakistani family who called her Kiran.
Sheikh never met her mother, who has been identified as an English
woman, and hasn’t met her biological father, a Jamaican and Indian man
who is in prison in Canada for attempted murder after he stabbed another
ex-girlfriend 30 times.
Campbell, now 52, shared how he sent gifts and birthday cards for the
first five years of Sheikh’s life before being instructed by social
services to cut ties.
“I was allowed a picture with her, which I kept,” added Campbell, who
revealed how he asked about adopting the infant himself, but was turned
down as he was not married. The father-of-five was alerted about
Sheikh’s appeal for her hero in The Metro by a colleague who saw the
story.
“A colleague showed it to me when he saw my name, and was sure it was
me. I said ‘no’. Then I saw her photograph and I was overcome, I was so
happy.”
Sheikh launched a search to find Campbell, describing the pain of
discovering her past. She knew she didn’t look like her parents and her
suspicions were confirmed when she was told at the age of 18.
Sheikh, who is a mother to a two-year-old, told the newspaper: “He says
anyone would have done what he did, but they wouldn’t. It’s so amazing
to have been reunited with him. He’s my hero. We lived down the road
from each other for years, we must have passed each other, I can’t
believe we were so close.”
“She has a family waiting for her now, my children will love to meet
her. I’m so grateful we have been brought together,” said Campbell.
Source: Metro UK