DNA test pending in case of 13-year-old father
1 hour ago LONDON (AP) — A DNA test will be performed to determine if a 13-year-old boy fathered a baby with his 15-year-old girlfriend, his spokesman said Monday.
The test comes after a Sunday tabloid newspaper reported that other teenage boys have come forward claiming to be the father of the newborn baby girl.
Spokesman Max Clifford said the parents of Alfie, 13, said the tests would be done "as soon as possible" to determine paternity.
"He obviously believes he's the father," Clifford said. "I think that having read the News of the World yesterday, it would be prudent to have a DNA test."
The teenager's 15-year-old girlfriend, Chantelle, gave birth to the baby girl earlier this month in Eastbourne, 70 miles (110 kilometers) southeast of London. The couple made headlines in Britain when Alfie, who looks much younger than 13, posed on the front page of the tabloid Sun newspaper with the baby.
The local council where the teenagers live said it would offer them support and that they will continue to be monitored by social workers to determine what help they might need.
Pubescents Battle Over Who Fathered Teen's Baby
At least three teens are claiming to be the father of a baby girl born to a 15-year-old, after one of them was reported to be the youngest father in Britain.
Alfie Patten, 13, was first reported to be the father of Chantelle Steadman's week-old daughter Maisie, and didn't doubt he was until now, the U.K.'s Telegraph newspaper reported.
"Now that is in his mind and I'm not happy," his mother Nicola Patten, 43, told the newspaper. "I don't know where they get this from. I mean, that's my son, that's his baby."
Alfie, then 12, and Chantelle routinely were allowed to share a bed, but others, including 14-year-old Tyler Barker and 16-year-old Richard Goodsell, also claim they had sex with the girl.
"I slept with Chantelle in her bed about nine months ago and I'm really worried I could be the father," Barker told The Telegraph.
Max Clifford, a publicist representing Alfie and his family, said they've decided a DNA test is the best way to resolve the paternity issue.
"It is inevitable there are going to be doubts, particularly with the number of boys who've come forward claiming to have had sex with Chantelle," Clifford told the paper.
Chantelle and her family insist Alfie is the only boyfriend she had, and that the other boys are lying, The Telegraph reported.
Poster Comment:
I had a suspicion when this was first reported that the girl may have nominated the boy to be the dad...