Rock star Phil Lynott had a brother and sister he never knew, his stepmother revealed last night (August 22nd). The children were given up for adoption as babies by his Irish mother, Philomena Lynott. She met the THIN LIZZY star’s father, Cecil Parris, in Liverpool, where he had just arrived from the West Indies.

Speaking for the first time publicly about the family’s tangled lives, Cecil’s wife Irene, 77, said: “Cecil was originally from Georgetown, Guyana. It was called British Guyana when he left back in 1947. Cecil stowed away on a ship, believing he was heading to America, but the vessel was travelling to Britain. He landed in Liverpool thinking it was New York,” said Irene.

Cecil moved into a Liverpool hostel where he met Philomena, who had recently arrived from Dublin. Cecil, nicknamed The Duke for his immaculate app earance, charmed her and the two became lovers.

When Philomena became pregnant, Cecil asked her to marry him. “Cecil was very strait-laced,” said Irene. “He wanted to marry Philomena but she said they needed her parents’ permission.” Philomena, now 78, eventually turned down Cecil’s offer of marriage but had his son.

‘Brother and sister given up for adoption’

Philip Parris Lynott was born in August 1949 in Birmingham. Phil, who would have been 60 last week, died from drugs-related heart failure in 1986.

Philomena became pregnant again and gave birth to a daughter in April 1951. Phil’s sister Jeanette Parris Lynott was given up for adoption and Cecil and Philomena then separated.

“Cecil was always upset about it because he was a very strong family man,” said Irene, who met her husband-to-be after he moved to London.

Phil’s mother went on to give birth to another son, James Arthur Lynott, who was born on June 27, 1952, at North Manchester General Hospital. He too was adopted and she later returned to Ireland, where Phil was brought up knowing nothing about his lost family.

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