Woman reunites with man who found her abandoned in phone booth 22 years ago

LONDON — A man spent more than two decades wondering what happened to a baby he found abandoned in a telephone booth in the middle of the night in London. And 22 years later, he was able to embrace her for the first time.

According to the ITV, Kiran Sheikh was just hours old when her mother abandoned her in a telephone booth on April 30, 1994.

Joe Campbell was about to make a phone call when he spotted the baby. At first, he thought he just stumbled across a discarded chip bag, but then he realized it was a swaddled newborn.

"When I saw it was a little baby I called 999 and the police came and the ambulance came and that's when I found out she was just two hours old," Campbell told ITV.

Campbell instantly felt connected to the girl and even tried to adopt her. His request was denied, because he wasn't married at the time.

"I asked if I could keep in contact and was told no, that's not possible," he told the television network. "I asked if I could find out how she was doing, and I was told no, that's not possible."

Recently, Sheikh put out an appeal to meet the man who found her. Campbell saw it and came forward.

"He had done so much for me," Sheikh told ITV. "It said in my file that he gave me presents, he sent me cards and I never received anything, but he did. I needed to thank him somehow."

It didn't take long for them to reunite, embracing for the first time.

Kiran hopes to also meet her birth mother.

"I'm not angry," she told ITV. "I forgive her. I hope she doesn't feel bad or anything. I would just love to meet her."

Cox Media Group