Britain's youngest parents revealed as father of the new mother, 12, says: 'Ashamed? No, I'm proud' as well as declaring, boyfriend, 13, 'a great kid'

The father of a 12-year-old girl who has become Britain’s youngest mother insisted yesterday that he is proud of his daughter.
The schoolgirl, who became pregnant by her 13-year-old ‘boyfriend’ when she was still in primary school at the age of 11, gave birth to a 7lb 4oz girl on Sunday.
At 12 years and three months, she is five months younger than the previous youngest UK mother.
The Year 7 pupil and the baby’s father, who are said to be ‘totally in love’ and who have been going out for a year, are believed to be Britain’s youngest parents.
Today, her 'father' said that he would stand by his daughter - but admitted that he 'broke down with emotion' when discovering only four weeks ago that his eldest daughter was about to give birth.

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New record: A couple have become Britain's youngest parents after a girl aged 12 gave birth. Their faces have been pixellated to protect their identities

Last night her father, who found out she was pregnant only a month ago, said: ‘That little girl does not bring shame to me at all, I’m so proud of her. Shame doesn’t even come into it.
‘We didn’t know this was happening. Unfortunately kids this age are going to grow up to have boyfriends and partners or whatever. If they do things behind their parents’ back that’s something we’re never going to be able to find out.’

The man, from North London, no longer lives with the girl’s mother, who has become a grandmother at 27.
Describing himself as a ‘proud grandad’ and using a false name to protect the identity of the girl, he told LBC radio that both sets of parents were supporting the youngsters.
He described the 13-year-old boy, whose identity has also been withheld, as a ‘great kid’.

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Front page: Their child weighed 7lbs - close to the UK average for a girl of 7lb 4oz, The Sun reported

The girl's father told Nick Ferrari on LBC: ‘We only found out she was pregnant a month ago. That means she was eight months pregnant. The baby is going to come into the world no matter what.
‘You can just be supportive about it. The families on both sides are going to be very supportive about it. It is heartbreaking, but you can't turn back time. You can only go forwards.
‘We don't know where it happened. What you're implying is that we knew they were having sexual intercourse in bedrooms. No.'
He said he would not let his three-year-old daughter and nine-year-old son make the same mistake but denied that he could have prevented it.
He added: 'We cannot keep her wrapped up her whole life.
‘I cannot keep her wrapped up all her life.
'You know, she goes to school, they spend time together. You can’t stop this.
'I cannot go out and watch my little girl 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It’s not possible.
‘It won’t be happening again, what’s happened has happened because you give your children a bit of slack. So now we will be keeping an eye on people. Maybe we could of [sic] done more.
‘They made a mistake and that’s the thing we’ve got to deal with now and just be proud of what we’ve got.’
The pair have the lowest combined age of any British parents on record. She, at 12 years and three months, is five months younger than Britain’s previous youngest mother, Tressa Middleton.
Their child weighed 7lbs - close to the UK average for a girl of 7lb 4oz, The Sun reported. At 27, the girl's mother, who was a teenage mother herself, is also now one of Britain's youngest grandmothers.
The parents, from North London, have been in a relationship for a year and say they are 'totally in love'. They met over Christmas 2012 in a park when she was ten and he was 12, it was reported.
The girl’s 'father' added: 'I can't keep a watch on her 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You don't know what has gone on and once the mistake has been made, you can only support them.’ 

AUDIO: Father of Britain's youngest mother is 'proud'

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Newborn: The child weighed 7lbs, which is close to the British average for a girl of 7lbs 4oz (file picture)

Yesterday, the new mother - who has a three-year-old sister and a nine-year-old brother - reportedly went to a register office to register the birth with her own mother and another woman.

'The families on both sides are going to be very supportive about it… it is heart-breaking, but you can't turn back time. You can only go forwards'
Girl's 'father'

Her grandmother, aged 56, is now a great grand-mother - and was shocked by the news. The girl’s 'father' said that he cried when learning of the pregnancy four weeks before the birth - and she apologised to him.
The girl's father insisted his grandchild will not be brought up on benefits.
He told LBC: ‘I come from a working background. We’re not scrounging off the social, like other people are suggesting. I work, I own my own business.
'I'm fully going to support them with my own money. We’re not scroungers. I will sit there and I will support this baby as best I can with my own money.

THE TWO 14-YEAR-OLDS WHO WERE BRITAIN'S YOUNGEST PARENTS

Britain's previous youngest parents were April Webster and Nathan Fishbourne, from Caerphilly, south Wales. April became pregnant by her boyfriend when she was 13.

Jamie Fishbourne with his mother, April Webster

The couple started seeing each other when they were aged 13 and in the same year at St Cenydd School in Caerphilly.
They started having unprotected sex shortly after their relationship began in September 2009, but April said she did not tell her parents because she was 'too embarrassed'.
She discovered she was pregnant a day before her 14th birthday and gave birth to Jamie by pre-arranged caesarean section on November 15, 2010.
Jamie was born with a malformed oesophagus which initially hindered his feeding, but he was declared healthy after an operation and 11 days in hospital.

'I would rather have come home and had this than find out she was on drugs at 11 or 12. There's plenty of routes kids this age can go down. She's brought something beautiful into the world.'
He said his other children, a boy of nine and a girl of three, do not fully understand what has happened, adding: ‘It’s shocking at first but I don’t think they understand the fact that she’s a mum.
'It won’t be happening again. Now we will be keeping an eye on people. I don’t want this to happen again. Maybe we could have done more.’
It is thought that social services will now be giving the couple support, although a health visitor could suffice unless the child is seen as being at risk.
A source told The Sun: 'Both sets of grandparents are incredibly supportive. It's a very difficult situation because the parents are both so young - but their families are right behind them.
'The baby's mum and dad have been in a relationship for more than year, so this isn't a fleeting romance. They intend to stick together and bring their daughter up together.
'They're very into each other, totally in love. She is obsessed with him. She sees this as true love. They want to get married.'
The source told how classmates at the mother's school have been left shocked. The girl only left classes last month and, it was said, did not look pregnant.
On claims that the couple want to marry, the girl's 'father' said: 'They're not going to get married [but] I couldn't say that in six years, I'd like to think they're going to turn out to be one happy family.'
He added: 'We've spoken to them, kids at this age when they have boyfriends, they sometimes become besotted with people.
'What's happened has happened. We can't bury our kids forever - they do need a life.'
Britain's youngest mother, Tressa Middleton, became pregnant at 11 and gave birth aged 12 in Edinburgh in 2006.

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Not the first time: Hilary Pannack (pictured), chief executive of teenage pregnancy charity Straight Talking, told MailOnline that she has heard of 12-year-old girls falling pregnant before

The youngest father on record is Sean Stewart, of Bedford, who became a father aged 12 in 1998.

TEENAGE PREGNANCY IN BRITAIN

Office for National Statistics figures released in February showed that the UK under-18 conception rate remains the lowest since 1969 at 27.9 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 17.
The number of pregnancies in those under 18 fell to 27,834 in 2012 compared with 31,051 in 2011 - a 10 per cent drop. Some 5,432 under-16s fell pregnant in 2012, compared with 5,991 in 2011, a fall of 9.3 per cent.
Among under-16s, some 3,251 pregnancies resulted in abortion - 59.8 per cent of the total. This is down on 60.2 per cent the previous year and 62.5 per cent the year before that.
Roughly two-fifths of underage conceptions resulted in births. The figures also revealed that 253 girls under 14 fell pregnant in 2012, fewer than the previous year, with almost three-quarters having an abortion.

Famously in 2009, Alfie Patten from Eastbourne, East Sussex, told a newspaper that he believed he had made his 15-year-old girlfriend pregnant when he was just 12.
DNA tests then established that a 15-year-old boy was the father of Chantelle Stedman's baby, leaving Alfie ‘distressed’. But two years later Chantelle insisted that Alfie was indeed the father.
Hilary Pannack, chief executive of teenage pregnancy charity Straight Talking, told MailOnline: 'I know girls who've been pregnant at 13 and have had the baby, and I've heard of 12-year-olds before.
‘Girls are going into puberty earlier. Certainly there are health implications of girls having babies quite so young. We know that the health statistics for teenage parents are not good.
'Certainly it robs young people of their childhood. The chances of them staying together are very, very low - and the benefits system doesn't encourage it.’

She added: ‘It's not the end of their life, but they will be dependent on others, both financially and emotionally. I would [tell them] what my teenage parents [working for us] tell me.

'It's not the end of their life, but they will be dependent on others, both financially and emotionally'
Hilary Pannack, Straight Talking

‘They tell me that they love their children, they don’t regret having their children, but they wish they had waited until they were in a financial position to support their child.
‘We know that teenage parents are more likely to have children who have teenage children.
'They are going to live on the state, unless the parents are wealthy enough to support them.’

FULL TRANSCRIPT OF NICK FERRARI'S LBC INTERVIEW WITH GIRL'S FATHER

• 

  Presenter: The girl's father called broadcaster Nick Ferrari (pictured) on LBC Radio this morning
  Nick Ferrari (NF): Ok we've been contacted by someone that says he is the father of the girl who's given birth, we have to take his word for it. It's very difficult to check this out as there's very few details in The Sun newspaper this morning. We're going to give him a false name, we obviously can't allow the young woman to be identified. So we're going to say he lives in London, North London I guess, and we're gonna call him Greg. It's not his name. Thank you for coming on the show, you are her dad?
• Caller: I am that's correct.
• NF: Are you indeed supportive and right behind them?
• Caller: Well ye. I mean you know, unfortunately we found out the situation a month ago. That's from people making statements about 'allowing it to go on'. We didn't allow anything to go on at all, we didn't know this was happening. Unfortunately kids this age are going to grow up to have boyfriends and partners or whatever. If they do things behind their parents back that's something we're never going to be able to find out. We only found that she was actually pregnant a month ago. For us what can you do? She was 8 months pregnant. The baby is going to come into the world no matter what. You can either be supportive about it… nowadays in this day and age there is no option for adoption or anything like that, we don't believe in that. The family from both sides are going to be very supportive, we have been very supportive. As for information from The Sun about 'oh they're gonna get married', this is all information that's news to us. I think before people judge they should find out what's happened. We haven't gone and publishing nothing, you are the first people we're talking to now. We've not said nothing to The Sun, nothing to anybody else. What people have put on there is from what other people have said, and which we find totally inappropriate. Erm, what do you do in this situation then? All we can do is be supportive which is what we're doing.
• NF: I hear you. But in your heart Greg, and I'm speaking as a dad myself, but I should tell you I had sons, you must be heartbroken for your daughter?
• Caller: It is heartbreaking. I mean of course it is. Any man to find out their daughter has become pregnant, it is. But you can't turn back time, you can only go forwards.
• NF: I think I can ask, how at the age of 11 was she able to be in a position that she had sex with a 12 year… was he 12 or 13 when the baby was conceived? Do we know?
• Caller: He was 13.
• NF: 13 ok. I have to put it to you… and I don't think you live with the girl's mum is that correct? You're separated?
• Caller: Yep ye.
• NF: So possibly at your ex-partner or ex-wife… Were you married or just partners?
• Caller: No just partners. 
• NF: Ok. So at your ex-partner's home, your 11 year old daughter was able to have sexual intercourse with a 13 year old boy. How the hell did that happen Greg?
• Caller: Well, see now what you're saying is obviously at the partners home. We've not managed to find out whether it was at the home or not. What you're implying is that we knew about all this, we knew they were having sexual intercourse in bedrooms which no, unfortunately, I cannot keep her wrapped up all her life. You know, she goes to school, they spend time together. You can't stop this. I cannot go out and watch my little girl 7 days a week. It's not possible. When she comes home from school, obviously find out where she's been. But you don't know what's gone on. So all you can do, once the mistake's been made, you can only support them.
• NF: I hear you I hear you, and that's what a dad is put on earth to do. But did you and your ex partner never try and get into your daughter a sense of responsibility when it comes to sex?
• Caller: Of course we did. We've all had the talk. We've all spoken to them, and… tried to bring them up in right way possible. We've not come from… I come from a working background, we both come from working backgrounds. It's not as if we're all scrounging off the social like other people are suggesting. I work, I own my own business, and I'm fully going to support them with my own money not necessarily forking out of other people's pockets. We're not scroungers. I will sit there and support this baby as best I can, with my own money, that I earn from working.
• NF: What's your view of the young man? The 13 year old boy?
• Caller: He's a great kid. Fortunately, they've been very supportive as well. We've had a discussion with his parents and everybody's… We've obviously come to the conclusion when you've got no other conclusion is 'what's happened has happened'. All we can now do is look to go forward in bringing this baby into the world without this bickering everybody is doing. I understand everybody has their view on things, but I think they should have their views on things on the facts, not what people are reading in papers that's just made up.
• NF: I hear what you say. Do you believe in shame?
• Caller: No. Shame's not nothing. That little girl does not bring shame to me at all, I'm so proud of her. Shame doesn't even come into it.
• NF: I'm sorry Greg, how can you be proud of her having sex at 11?
• Caller: Listen. Unfortunately, she's still my little girl whether's she's done that or not. I'd rather come home and had this, than find that she's on drugs at 11 or 12. There's plenty of routes in this day and age that kids can go down. I mean come on, she's not the first person, she's not the last person. There's other kids out there that are on drugs at this age and doing all sorts of other stuff. You know what, she's bought something beautiful into the world and we're all going to stand by her and support this.
• NF: You've seen the little … It's a girl isn't it? You've seen the little girl have you?
• Caller: Course ye. Held it ye. Done my grandad bit, proud to be a grandad!
• NF: This is your first grandchild?
• Caller: Yes it is, obviously.
• NF: And the boy's parents, are they still together?
• Caller: They are yes.
• NF: And they've cuddled the baby as well?
• Caller: They have.
• NF: So the families are all getting on well. It's reported in the paper that they want to marry?
• Caller: That's correct… That was news to us. We only see that again last night, when we found out all this information was coming out. It's absolute nonsense. As you can see from the paragraphs that are in there, from the kids from school. Kids of course can be very spiteful and malicious. So obviously there's gonna be a lot of words put around, that's gonna be false information. That's not even on the cards, it's nothing. Kids at this age when they have boyfriends or whatever they sometimes become besotted by people…
• NF: They don't normally get pregnant when they're 11 of course…
• Caller: I'm not saying that. I'm just saying they made a mistake and that's the things we've got to deal with now. What I am saying is, you're reading a lot of this information from the paper. Now us as a family, we've not spoken to anybody about this situation. So what you're reading in the paper has come from third party information.
• NF: Well they also posted the picture up themselves didn't they?
• Caller: That was of them two yep.
• NF: How wise was that?
• Caller: Well to me to be honest with you… there was rumours going around after the pregnancy saying she was pregnant this that and the other. So, why not. I mean what's happened has happened. We can't bury our kids forever. They do need a life.
• NF: Do you have other children by your partner?
• Caller: I do yes.
• NF: Younger or older?
• Caller: They're younger than her.
• NF: They're younger. So this is 'big sis' effectively?
• Caller: It is yep.
• NF: How did the other children react to the fact that big sis is now a mum?
• Caller: Obviously shocking at first. I don't think they understand the fact that she's a mum. They understand the fact that there's a baby in the family.
• NF: How old are your other children?
• Caller: 9 and 3.
• NF: Boys and girls?
• Caller: One boy, one girl.
• NF: Is the girl 9 or 3?
• Caller: The girl's 3, the boy's 9.
• NF: So imagined if this happens again in 8 years time.
• Caller: It won't be happening again…
• NF: That's interesting Greg. How can you reassure me Sir?
• Caller: Well as I said to you, now obviously what's happened has happened because you give your children a bit of slack. So now we will be keeping an eye on people…
• NF: I thought you said…
• Caller: No I don't want this to happen again.
• NF: I hear you. But I thought you said you couldn't legislate for this sort of thing. Kids will be kids effectively?
• Caller: No they will be kids.  But I'm saying obviously cos this has happened to us already and it's not the ideal situation, we will be keeping an eye on things in the future.
• NF: But how? I'm sure she's a smashing little kiddy your 3 year old. What are you going to do with the 3 year old in 8 years time that you didn't do with this one?
• Caller: That situation we'll deal with when the time comes to it.
• NF: I see. It's also reported in the paper that your ex registered the birth with another woman. Is that the boy's mum? They went together? Little threesome…
• Caller: The baby's not even beee registered yet.
• NF: So that's not right.
• Caller: No. Baby hasn't even been registered yet.
• NF: I see ok. What was it like seeing a picture of your daughter, albeit digitised, on the frontpage of The Sun this morning?
• Caller: Terrifying. Horrified. For them as well. I mean they're only young we're trying to protect them. Obviously what they put up there was their bit, but then all these lies that are put out… this is why when I heard that you guys were on the radio, we thought you know… Ok people are gonna judge, that's part of the parcel here. But unfortunately what's happened has happened and…
• NF: Sorry, just briefly, where are the lies?
• Caller: Pardon?
• NF: What are the lies again Greg, sorry?
• Caller: Well the lies about them being married…
• NF: No no, they said they wanted to get married… and you agree they want to do it but there's a long way to go…
• Caller: No I've never said they want to do it. I just said they're not going to… That's not what they've spoke about…
• NF: I see. So they're not going to get married?
• Caller: No they're not going to get married I've said that to you!
• NF: But no, I mean in time. In 6 years or wherever we are?
• Caller: Listen I couldn't say that in 6 years time. I'd like to think they're gonna raise… turn out to become one happy family.
• NF: Right right, ok. When you, lastly, when you very very first heard, what did you say to your daughter?
• Caller: Erm, I didn’t' say too much really…
• NF: Were you cross? How cross were you?
• Caller: I sort of cried I suppose. As any father would do. You break down with emotion. Erm…
• NF: And had she had the baby or she was just about to have the baby when you first heard?
• Caller: No, we heard 4 weeks ago. So she was 8 months gone when we found out.
• NF: And you just broke down?
• Caller: I broke down ye.
• NF: I'm not surprised.
• Caller: What can you say I suppose?
• NF: And what did she say back to you when she sees her dad crying?
• Caller: Erm, nothing really. It wasn't really in front of their faces too much…
• NF: Did she say sorry?
• Caller: Yes sorry was obviously one of the words.
• NF: And what did your ex say?
• Caller: Erm, it's very hard to say what words were actually said. I think everybody was sorry at the time. Maybe we could of done more, maybe we couldn't have done more. They are just the way they are. As I said to you on my last note, all we can do from now on is just be very supportive of what they bought in… and just be proud of what we've got.
• NF: And lastly, what does your mum… I trust your mum is still with us?
• Caller: Yep.
• NF: How old is your mum?
• Caller: Erm.. Sixty.. 56.
• NF: So let me get this right, she's a great grandma now?
• Caller: That's correct ye.
• NF: What did your mum say to you?
• Caller: Obviously very shocked at the time…
• NF: I bet you got a ticking off. Come on now, be honest!
• Caller: Well you know, back then, it wasn't heard of back then. That's why a lot of the younger generation…
• NF: Your mum said 'what on earth has been going on son' didn't she?! [laughs]
• Caller: [laughs] Not in them lines!

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