Man returns to Tonbridge on quest for missing daughter

A CANADIAN man who last saw his former partner in Tonbridge 10 years ago returned to the town this week on his quest to find the daughter she abducted.

Joe Chisholm, 48, was given joint custody of his 21-month-old daughter Sigourney when he separated from the baby's mother Patricia O'Byrne in Toronto in 1993.

Soon after, Miss O'Byrne disappeared and took Sigourney with her, with a warrant being issued for her arrest.

Mr Chisholm has not seen his daughter since despite efforts to trace Miss O'Byrne.

Mr Chisholm's suspicions that Miss O'Byrne could be living in Tonbridge with an uncle were strengthened when he travelled to the town and spotted her on a bus outside the station in 1999.

He said: "I knew she had an uncle in Tonbridge and thought she could be living there under a different identity. I never expected to actually see her and it was quite a surprise to see her sitting on a bus looking out of the window as it pulled away."

He said he checked the bus's destination and it had been going in the direction of the uncle's home.

"I rang the house lots of times but never got an answer," he added.

Mr Chisholm contacted a solicitor the next day, but although Miss O'Bryne was wanted by the police in Canada, was advised not to take action himself.

He said: "As I had spotted Patricia I thought it would be just a matter of weeks before I found my daughter but it dragged on and on into years.

"When Sigourney was taken I never thought it would be this long."

Financial adviser Mr Chisholm shares custody of his son from a previous relationship and as he was just four years old when Sigourney was taken he feels he was also particularly badly affected by losing his sister.

He said: "My daughter could have been told anything about me, that I'm dead or that I'm an evil monster because she's made no attempt to find me.

"Patricia and I had relationship problems which we couldn't work out. It was hard on both of us, but I had thought we could overcome them in the interests of bringing up our daughter.

"I don't want her mother to go to jail or anything like that. My daughter, who is 17 now, doesn't know she has living grandparents and a brother."

He added that it was likely she had been given a new identity by her mother.

"Her medical records have never been used," he said. "Patricia didn't renew her passport and her national insurance number hasn't been used, so they are probably both living under different identities.

"Someone may know Patricia but under a different name. She is quite distinctive, 6ft tall and she's now 51. People can go and look at my sites on Facebook and MySpace to find out more."

To publicise his search during his stay in the UK, Mr Chisholm was interviewed on BBC Radio 5Live and at the International Missing Children's Day event in Leicester.

He is helped in his search by charity Forever Searching.

The charity says it believes Sigourney could have gone through the school system in Tonbridge.

It said Miss O'Byrne could be working in Tonbridge or commuting under a different name.