FIFE, Scotland – As Nick Cameron and Danielle Heaney hold hands and kiss lovingly, Karina Cameron looks away uncomfortably.The scene makes Karina feel extremely awkward – because the loved-up couple sharing it are both her children.Four years ago Karina walked in on Nick, 31, and Danielle, 25, having sex after the pair – who have different fathers – met for the first time as adults.She reported them to the police, which led to the couple being charged with incest, and she was so appalled she disowned them.But two years on Karina is now standing by her children’s belief that they are victims of a recognised psychological phenomenon called Genetic Sexual Attraction or GSA.Though Karina, 50, raised Danielle to adulthood, Nick was taken into foster care as a baby. But she tracked him down in August 2006 after spending more than a decade trying to make contact.Karina says: “I was overjoyed when he replied to a letter I sent him, and he agreed to visit my home. Danielle, who was married at the time, also wanted to meet her long-lost brother, so we were both there when he arrived . . . . It was an emotionally charged reunion, but I would never have dreamed that this would be the outcome.”Danielle, who has a seven-year-old daughter with her now ex-husband, remembers the first time she set eyes on Nick.She says: “The moment I saw him, I knew he was the man I wanted to be with for the rest of my life. Despite knowing that loving my brother is completely wrong, it felt right. . . . I was married with a child at the time, but the moment we embraced for the first time I knew that I’d met my soulmate. . . . From that second I was in love.”Nick says: “It was very confusing. . . . I knew it was wrong to feel like that, but when I met Danielle I felt for the first time in my life that I was totally in love. I should feel ashamed, but I don’t.” The pair – who had already had sex several times before being caught – were charged in October 2006 and admitted numerous counts of incest.When the couple, from Glenrothes, Fife, appeared at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court they were granted bail. But during the nine months it took for the case to come to trial, they were not allowed any contact. In January 2008 the couple received a suspended sentence under the ruling that if they have sex again, they would be jailed. And so, while Danielle and Nick still appear very much a couple, they have now learned how to express their feelings for each other without having sex.Nick stays in homeless accommodation at night and spends his days with Danielle at her house.Although GSA is still unusual, it is becoming more common, as the number of adoptive and donor reunions increases. Research has found GSA affects nearly half of all close relatives who meet for the first time as adults, but few act on their urges. (The SUN)
