Separated twins married and had to break up

LONDON (Reuters) - Twins who were separated at birth and raised by different families met later and married but were forced to break up when they discovered their true identities, a peer said on Friday.

"It's a tragedy for the couple who are involved, a terrible tragedy. Everyone's hearts will go out to people caught up quite unwittingly in a case of incest of this kind," David Alton, a member of the House of Lords, told BBC radio.

Alton first raised the case during debate on a proposed new law on in vitro fertilisation (IVF). He says it highlights the need for children to know who their parents are.

He fears that under the new law, the biological identity of one parent of a child born as a result of IVF could be removed from the birth certificate, creating the potential for similar tragic mistakes to occur.

Alton told parliament last month he had heard about the twins from a High Court judge who had dealt with the case.

"It involved the normal birth of twins who were separated at birth and adopted by separate parents," said Alton, who has no party affiliation. "They were never told that they were twins."

"They met later in life and felt an inevitable attraction" and they got married, he said.

"When they did come to know their true identities it led to their having to separate and also to a lot of heartbreak," Alton said on Friday. News reports said their marriage was annulled.

No further information was available about the twins or where they were from.