A SAD mum tracked down the daughter she gave up for adoption 22 years ago - only for the girl to run off with her HUBBY.
Last night tearful Elizabeth Murray, 46, said: "Letting her back into my life was the worst decision I've EVER made.

"It's the ultimate betrayal.

"Now I don't even know if she ever wanted a relationship with me, or was simply taking her revenge for being adopted."

Her DAUGHTER Melissa Anderson, 25, is living with Elizabeth's truck driver HUSBAND John, 45 - while she remains in the family home with their three teenage girls.

And Elizabeth has had no contact with her since finding out about the illicit relationship from reading John's text messages.

She said: "They both knew that it meant the world to me to get Melissa back in my life.

"They have robbed me of that happiness with their sordid little affair."

The betrayed housewife thought all her dreams had come true when she was reunited with the daughter she gave up for adoption in 1987.

At that time, she'd been a struggling single mum of 19 and her beloved Melissa was three. Elizabeth, from Carlisle, Cumbria, explained: "It was before I met John and I didn't have a penny.

"Without money or a partner I just couldn't cope, and I thought she'd have a better life away from me.

"I kissed her and explained she was going away for a new life. There wasn't a day afterwards that I didn't cry for her - but I never doubted I'd done the right thing, because at the time I couldn't give her a proper life."

A few months later Elizabeth met John and they had three daughters - who are now aged 18, 16 and 14 - before finally getting married three years ago.

But she could never get the child she'd given away out of her thoughts, and two years ago plucked up the courage to track her down.

"A friend of a friend mentioned she knew Melissa and passed on her address," she explained.

"I wrote to her - and the very next day she rang. She called me 'Mum' and I burst into tears.

Fool
"The next day I drove the 25 miles to her home. When a pretty, dark-haired woman answered the door, I was grinning like a fool.

"I told her, 'I always prayed I'd see you again.' She replied: 'Me too.'

Jobless Melissa lived on her own and was single - although she'd had a couple of boyfriends previously.

Mum and daughter quickly became close again, with Melissa regularly popping round for a cuppa. They would spend evenings nattering in front of the telly, and would go on shopping trips together.

Elizabeth said: "Everything felt great. John and I were getting on fantastically well and Melissa was back in my life. Everything was going superbly.

"There was only one thing stopping it being perfect and that was the fact that Melissa and John seemingly couldn't stand each other.

"They argued, and when she popped round or there was an icy silence between them." Elizabeth had NO inkling the pair were having an affair until more than a year after her daughter had come back into her life.

The secret began to unravel after she went to Melissa's home one day and complimented her on her earrings, in the shape of Playboy bunnies.

Unsuspecting Elizabeth had no idea the jewellery was in fact a love gift from her husband.

Elizabeth recalled: "Melissa looked lovely and was wearing some nice new earrings. She tucked her hair behind her ears and showed them off.

John was in the hall whispering on his phone... I began thinking that he was up to something
"I asked her where they were from but she shrugged and said she couldn't remember. I thought it was odd and for the rest of the conversation she seemed distant and weird.

"Then I went home and John was in the hall whispering on his phone. I snapped at him and I went off to bed in a huff. I just began thinking that he was up to something.

"I thought it was strange that both John and Melissa were acting weird. Funnily enough, I wondered if he was cheating on me and Melissa had somehow found out."

The next morning, Elizabeth got up early and secretly checked John's mobile phone for any clues.

Her blood ran cold when she read a text message from Melissa that said: "Luv the earrings. Luv u xxx."

Elizabeth said: "I stared at the words for ages before they sank in. I just kept thinking, was this a joke?

"I went through every scenario but could only think that my husband was having an affair with my daughter.

"Rage rose up inside me and I barged into the bedroom and confronted him. He tried to lie his way out of it but I could tell from his face he was panicking. I yelled at him: 'You've been having an affair with your own stepdaughter. It's sick.'

Shame-faced John bolted from his bed and frantically began packing a bag while sobbing Elizabeth screamed for an explanation.

He ignored her pleas and drove straight to Melissa's place.

The couple then went to live with his family in Wales before moving into a house 20 miles from his former home.

John still sees his three daughters but Elizabeth, who plans to divorce him, says they are devastated he has left the family for their sister.

She added: "I feel so daft because I don't know how long this had been going on for behind my back - I never knew a thing until that day.

"John refuses to tell me when the affair started so I don't know if it was weeks, months or even years - and I refuse to talk to Melissa.

"John knew how much it meant to me to have Melissa back and he stole that from me just to get his leg over."

Last night John told the News of the World: "It is true, I left my family for my stepdaughter, and I don't want anything to do with Elizabeth."