A deputy town clerk has helped solve a 70-year-old family mystery linking a man back to a long-lost relative in Australia.

Earlier this year John Mathews, 67, of St Albans visited Ongar Cemetery in a bid to find the grave of his great grandfather, William Ephraim Holt, a gardener who lived in the town until his death in 1924.

He met with deputy town clerk Judith Cook, of Ongar Town Council, in the hope of examining burial records to help identify the grave of his relative.

During his second visit last week, Mr Mathews was informed that another enquiry about the same grave had been made by a woman, named Rosie, in May.

He said: “We discovered that the lady was the great-granddaughter of my great aunt.

“This was quite momentous for me as my great aunt had been impossible to trace for any definite information since the 1911 Census and was thought to have gone to Australia, only reappearing in 1942 for my parents' wedding.

"Therefore there was no contact or anything for more than 70 years.”

Mr Mathews later exchanged a string of emails with Rosie who was found to be living in Australia.

He added: "This has precipitated a wonderful sequence of correspondence and has healed a family gap of over 70 years.

“Both my new found relative and I feel Judith’s extraordinary interest and actions should be publicly acknowledged as she went way beyond what she was obliged to do and we are hugely grateful to her.

“We both now have a whole new section of family to enjoy.”