A woman who was abandoned in a blackberry bush as a baby has finally discovered the identity of her father after DNA tests were carried out on a stamp.

Anthea Ring, now 81, was found by a family who heard her crying on the South Downs in Sussex on August 26, 1937.

She was wearing a pink dress, her hands were tied and she was covered in scratches and insect bites. She was just nine months old.

Her discovery follows a 35-year search, which only ended after her own DNA matched a sample taken from a stamp on an envelope sent 30 years ago.

After her search was narrowed down to six brothers in Ireland, a newly-found cousin produced a series of letters penned by Patrick Coyne, whose DNA was left on the back of the stamp after it licked it.

The blackberry bush baby: Anthea Ring finally has closure after discovering who her father is after a 35-year search to find him

She was discovered by a family who heard her crying on the South Downs in Sussex in 1937. She was wearing a pink dress, her hands were tied and she was covered in scratches and insect bites. She was just nine-months-old

Left for dead on the hilltop, Anthea was taken to hospital but despite a nationwide search for her parents, they didn't come forward and after six months she was adopted by a family in Surrey.

She only learned she was the blackberry baby when she was 25 and she has spent the last 35 years searching for her birth parents.

However, the only real breakthrough happened after Anthea decided to take a DNA test in 2012, and discovered her ethnicity was 92% Irish - with family links to Ireland and America.

After months more work, research narrowed to her mother being from County Mayo, Ireland.

An entry in the 1936 record of illegitimate births listed a daughter to unmarried mother Lena O'Donnell, who researchers discovered later married in 1945, and had four children.

One of her sons agreed to take a DNA in 2017, and Anthea discovered she not only had a half-brother, but also the identity of her mother.

Focus then turned to who Anthea's father was, and researchers believed she could be the daughter of one of six brothers by the surname Coyne from County Galway.

The daughter of one of the brother's agreed to have a DNA test, and revealed she and Anthea were first cousins - meaning one of the brothers was her true father.

Scientists finally pinned down the correct father when 30-year-old letters from one brother, Patrick, were found, and saliva on a stamp confirmed he was her father.

It was one of Anthea's new-found cousins called Dot who remembered she had a series of letters sent by Patrick from England to the US - still in their original envelopes - that finally gave Anthea the closure she had been searching for.

She was taken to hospital but despite a nationwide search for her parents, they didn't come forward. After six months she was adopted by a family in Surrey (Pictured: appeals at the time)

Although her father Patrick died before she could meet him, she is now in contact with his wider family, but the reason behind her being abandoned, and her why her hands were tied, remains a mystery.

Anthea, a married grandmother who now lives in Bradford-upon-Avon, said: 'I'm delighted to have found the final piece in the puzzle of my family history.

'Who would have thought that stamps from decades old letters were the key to unlocking my story?

The discovery provides closure for Mrs Ring, who now knows her father was Patrick Coyne (pictured)

'I can now finally tell my children and grandchildren about their roots and where they came from.

'I feel like I have some closure. It's wonderful. Being able to track down my family has been incredible.'

David Nicholson, Founder and Managing Director at Living DNA which carried out the test, said: 'Stamps and other materials containing DNA such as hair from a brush, can often provide vital evidence in DNA testing, and this has proved critical in Anthea's very personal, and long-running, case to learn her roots.'