Dead banker finally named as the father of violin star

Susanne Bayly was heavily pregnant with their second child when banker Akihisa Yukawa died in a plane crash in Japan in August 1985. His death meant Diana, born just three weeks later and now a hugely successful concert violinist, did not have her father's name on the birth certificate.

But Ms Bayly, now 51, refused to give up the fight to have Mr Yukawa recognised officially as Diana's father. And last week - after a change in the law and DNA tests - Diana's birth certificate was finally amended. The move could pave the way for a claim on Mr Yukawa's inheritance.

Ms Bayly, who lives in Wimbledon, said today: "As no legal procedure covered the adding of a name posthumously, it had to be approved by the Foreign Secretary.

"Register office officials say my case is unique but it's wonderful to see Aki's name where it says father' and incredibly it has eased the grief I've suffered for so long."

Ms Bayly, then a 21-year-old ballet student, met Mr Yukawa, 28 years her senior, in a London restaurant in 1978. Mr Yukawa, who had been posted to London by his bank, had two grown up sons in Japan and a wife who had suffered severe brain injuries after a car crash. Ms Bayly was three months pregnant with their first daughter Cassie when Mr Yukawa returned to work in Japan, taking his lover with him.

He kept his new family secret from his sons but told his mother. In 1985, he died on a flight from Tokyo to Osaka which crashed killing 520 people on board. Not long after, Ms Bayly returned to London taking with her Cassie and her new-born daughter.

"It was devastating as, although he was still with his wife and had two sons with her, Aki and I had been together for years. Instantly, the love of my life, my soulmate, had gone," recalled Ms Bayly, "Aki was a man of wealth whose bank would not accept a whiff of scandal. The only person who knew about our relationship was his mother, who gave us her blessing."

Three weeks after Diana was born, Ms Bayly was paid £340,000 by Mr Yukawa's to spare them the embarrassment and public disgrace. In return she agreed to remain silent.

She moved back to Wimbledon using the money and funds given by their Japanese grandmother to pay for her daughters' specialist music education. Cassie, now 27, is a concert pianist while Diana, 23, has a recording deal with Sony and is working on her third album. She is famous in Japan - not least for playing at a memorial service for the victims of Japan Airlines Flight 123.

Miss Bayly said: "Diana was a female version of Aki and so obviously his daughter. Both girls were also incredibly gifted musically, Cassie as a pianist and Diana on the violin.

"Yet although I knew Aki would have been so proud of his daughters and would have wanted to have provided financially for them, I struggled to fund their specialist tuition fees.

"Aki always used to say: Wherever you are, don't forget that I am with you' and my biggest sadness is that he is not here to see how wonderfully his daughters have turned out. And despite everything I've been through, deep in my heart I know he would have approved."