It took a while to happen, but finally Jamie Morgan Kane officially registered his birth – on his 68th birthday.
Jamie, who now lives in Ryton, Gateshead, says it’s been an amazing journey and he’s still coming to terms with finally achieving his goal.
Behind his quest lies an astonishing “stranger than fiction” story that has indeed resulted in a bestselling book.
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It begins in early 1954 on the Isle of Man when Jamie’s father files for divorce from his mother who was eight months pregnant with him.
On February 21, 1954, he was born Morgan James Kane but his birth was not registered and soon after he was dumped on the doorstep of his grandparents’ house while his mother slept away. fled, never to be seen again.
Jamie said: “Until the last few years many details of my youth were a mystery to me.
“It became apparent that my grandparents were in the hospitality business and had a reputation to uphold. I was sent to an orphanage in Canada to try to avoid a scandal.”
Jamie said from there he was then illegally taken to America and “adopted” – sold as he put it – to a wealthy family.
“I got a new name and date of birth from the man who claimed to have adopted me,” he said.
(Photo: Jamie Morgan Kane)
He said from an early age he was told he was born on the Isle of Man and his real name was Morgan James Kane. Years later, as a married adult, he started using it.
Then, in 1983, his life was turned upside down when he was arrested following the death of a man at his home in the United States.
Afraid of being held responsible, Jamie says he got rid of the body, but was arrested by the authorities.
Jamie entered the US prison system and was to remain there for 34 years with stints at San Quentin, Folsom State Prison and the infamous Deuel Vocational Institution in California.
He would rub elbows with some of the world’s most infamous serial killers such as Charles Manson and Edmund Kemper as well as gangs like the Aryan Brotherhood and the Mexican Cartels.
His full experiences are detailed in his book ’34 Years in Hell: My Time Inside America’s Toughest Prisons’ published by Mirror Books.
He was released in 2017 and then fate took another hand. “I was kicked out by then-President Donald Trump,” he smiles.
Jamie, 64, with £5 in his pocket, returned to England, first to London.
It was a friend he was caring for in London who started calling him Jamie – “She thought Morgan sounded too harsh”, he said – and the name stuck.
(Photo: Jamie Morgan Kane)
He then proceeded to obtain an official birth certificate. “Without one, you officially don’t exist,” he said and became determined to make things right.
He contacted the Isle of Man authorities to find out what he needed to obtain the birth certificate.
After much frustration and buy-in from his local MP, he finally got through.
Jamie said: “On my 68th birthday, the Isle of Man High Court ordered the Registry Office to register my birth and issue me my birth certificate.
“I didn’t even realize at first it was my birthday at first, I was so excited to have it.”
Jamie, who moved to Ryton last December, said there could also be another slight twist.
He has contacted the Guinness Book of Records, as he believes this is the last record of births in the Isle of Man and possibly also in the UK.
“It’s been an incredible journey and it’s kind of come full circle. I was fired to hide my existence and came back to reinstate it.”
* Jamie will publish a follow-up book this year called Behind The Granite Walls, which will be released on April 28 and also published by Mirror Books.
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