Family in mystery charity shop photos tracked down

A woman who made it her mission to find the people in a collection of old photos she discovered in a charity shop suitcase has finally tracked them down.

Agnes Adkins, from Burton-upon-Trent in Staffordshire, bought the suitcase in Hatton, Derbyshire, to take on holiday to Italy and found the collection in a "secret pocket" when she unpacked last August.

After months of searching, she found out it was Australian-national Tom Phillips, 74, and his family.

Mr Phillips said: "It's amazing... how Agnes has been able to track us down is extraordinary."

Mr Phillips said majority of the 135 photos were of his now-adult children when they were primary school age and were taken in New Zealand and around the Melbourne area of Australia.

He moved to the UK in 2000 and settled in Tutbury, Staffordshire.

Then in June 2024, his partner Rowena was clearing out the house and took the unwanted suitcase to the charity shop with the photos left inside by mistake.

Mr Phillips said he did not know the photos were missing until he received a message from Ms Adkins.

Ms Adkins said she was able to track down Mr Phillips after noticing his son's name was written on the back of one of the images.

Ms Adkins searched for his son's name, Scott Phillips, on Facebook and found his father, Tom, had commented on one of his photos.

After matching Tom's Facebook profile image to the photographs, Ms Adkins decided to send him a message and confirm he was the owner of the images.

"It's remarkable she's managed to do it because there was so little information," he said.

"Each day we're confronted by so much bad news and bad things happening in the world - this is such a lovely alternative and it's the kindness of strangers.

"A lot of these photos are my children - you can't replace those memories because they're now in their late thirties and early forties.

"I'm going to scan some and send them to the children because they won't have seen them. This is just amazing I have them back."

Ms Adkins said after her initial investigation to try to find what she thought were two families, she put the photos away and forgot about them.

She later reignited her search and spoke to BBC Radio Derby last month about her efforts.

"The fact that I've known Tom has been coming over to come and finally collect them, it's made me smile.

"I'm very proud to have managed to find him."

Mr Phillips' partner Rowena said Agnes had done her a "big favour"

"I think [Agnes] should get a job as a detective or an investigative journalist," she added.

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