DNA test led man to help family with tragic past

When window cleaner John McNally took a DNA test to trace his ancestry, he never imagined it would lead him on a journey helping victims of domestic abuse.

The test revealed Mr McNally, from Shaftesbury, Dorset, was related to Grace Millane, a young woman from Essex who was murdered in Auckland in 2018.

Following her death, her family set up a charity - Love Grace - that supplies handbags stuffed with essentials to women fleeing violence.

After connecting with his new-found relatives and discovering their tragic story he felt compelled to help and now runs appeals for the charity in his home town.

Mr McNally, who grew up in a single-parent family, said his journey started with him trying to find out about his father.

He said: "I always wondered about my dad. Me and Mum used to talk for hours about him.

"Did we, over the years, do enough to find him? We did try but to no avail."

In 2023, someone suggested taking a DNA test.

He said: "I got the results back and it pointed to a couple of cousins on dad's side of the family."

One of the cousins told Mr McNally about the Love Grace charity, set up by Miss Millane's mother, Gillian, and her cousin Hannah O'Callaghan.

As well as its handbag appeal, Love Grace also raises money for White Ribbon charities in the UK and New Zealand, which educate men and boys on attitudes that can contribute to violence against women and girls.

Ms Millane and Ms O'Callaghan were both made an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in the 2024 King's New Year's Honours for their services to charitable fundraising and tackling violence against women.

Ms O'Callaghan said: "Grace was my youngest cousin but more like a little sister.

"We started off thinking we could do 50 bags in Grace's memory but it's grown and we are now at 33,000 handbags worldwide."

The pre-loved bags contain six essentials - shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrush and shower gel - and items such as make-up, purses, scarves and notebooks.

Ms O'Callaghan said: "These women who leave, they arrive in refuges, police stations and hospitals with nothing."

Mr McNally has so far run three appeals for Love Grace, collecting bags and supplies, which he described as "a wonderful experience and very humbling".

He added: "It's amazing, I've gone from coming from a very, very small family to being part of a very large family."

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