It was only after his brother died that John Richards decided to look for the little sister he’d heard mentioned just once, 50 years previously.
He knew almost nothing about her, only that she was around seven or eight when he was 25, and that she was the reason his father had left his mother, for the second time, never to return again.
But John was dedicated.’It was always in my mind, especially since my brother died. I thought – I’m on my own. I have two great sons, a fabulous wife but I’d love to know: is she alive?’That’s where RTÉ radio’s new Documentary on One, Girl from the Letter, begins.
In the programme, John Richards, 74, a Cork native, embarks on a quest to solve a mystery that has haunted him for nearly five decades.John and his wife Nell have two children and two grandchildren. They’re a tight-knit family and John and Nell celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on October 6.’Dad’s a bit of a softie,’ his son Keith admits – though he can be counted on to hold their family together – a reflex, perhaps, from his own tumultuous childhood. John and his wife Nell have two children and two grandchildrenJohn’s father, John Joseph Alfred Richards – also known as John Snr – disappeared for the first time when John was just four.
The details John’s mother, Sheila, gave him about his father were scant: he was born in Wales, grew up in Ireland, served in the army and worked in England. He was on a trip to England when he vanished.’She never spoke about him at any stage of our life,’ John says. ‘We just took it at that and left it at that. And we were happy.’For single mum Sheila, raising two boys in the 1950s and 60s, life was tricky. She made a living scrubbing floors, doing washing and ironing and generally trying to make the best of things.’She was brilliant,’ says Nell, who first met Sheila when she and John started going out.’You’d think she hadn’t a worry in the world. That was her way.’Then, in the early 1970s, a letter arrived from Sheila’s husband asking if he could come home. Sheila, after discussing it with her sons, agreed.So, almost two decades after telling his schoolfriends that his dad was dead, John – now 25 – was about to meet him again.
At this point, John says, he had no memory of his father. For John Snr, the home to which he was about to return was equally unfamiliar. ‘He left two small children and he came back to two grown men,’ adds Nell. John Jnr and Nell got married, and from a photo taken on the day of their wedding, you’d never imagine that the proud dad had only just re‑entered their livesAt first, all seemed well. John Jnr and Nell got married, and from a photo taken on the day of their wedding, you’d never imagine that the proud dad had only just re‑entered their lives.Then, just 18 months after his reappearance, John Snr got a letter. This letter, 50 years later, still haunts John Jnr, but at the time he didn’t discuss it with either parent. It was a little girl, threatening John Snr that if he didn’t return to England, she would be sent, a tag around her neck, to Ireland. Just one week later, John Snr, once again, was gone.The whole family, having tentatively knitted themselves back together, were devastated, especially Sheila.’She was heartbroken,’ says Nell. ‘The life was gone out of her. She continued the same way she always did but she was deflated.’Sheila never really got over the second betrayal. She doted on her grandchildren and tried to get on with life. But in the early 1980s, she was diagnosed with cancer and she died aged just 59.It was not until the death of John’s brother Donal in 2020, however, that he began his quest to find his missing sister – bringing in genealogical researcher PJ Hogan to aid his search. John and Nell, pictured with journalist Shauna McGreevy, the show’s producer – delved into birth records and death records, DNA testing, military archives and Ancestry.comPJ and John – and journalist Shauna McGreevy, the show’s producer – delved into birth records and death records, DNA testing, military archives and Ancestry.com, in a search that ended up taking quite a while, with numerous dead ends.Then PJ found John Snr’s death certificate. John’s dad, they discovered, was father to five more children – all born between 1955 and 1968 and all very likely still alive.For John Jnr it was an emotional moment – ‘There’s seven of us,’ he whispers.Nell, having supported her husband throughout his journey, also had a realisation.’I can see the two sides now,’ she says. ‘I can see their mother and his mother. There were five children in England and there were two here, so what do you do?’PJ advised John to write a letter to the address listed on the death certificate and hope for the best.But John’s son got there first – via Instagram. He spotted a name that looked promising and sent her a brief message, explaining the situation. She replied, and they called the next morning.With that, the girl from the letter – who for so long had just been a what-if at the back of John’s mind – became Karen, a 50-something English woman.’I stopped still for a minute when she said hello,’ John says, ‘and I started crying.”And we just spoke away. But before we finished up, she said: ‘There’s one word I don’t like – half-sister,’ and I said ‘Oh why not?’ And she said: ‘Because you’re my brother.’John and Karen have yet to meet but hope that it will happen before Christmas.’I’m not blaming anybody. It’s just life isn’t it,’ Karen says.The Girl From The Letter will air today at 2pm on RTÉ Radio 1.

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