Council 'won't pay for DNA test'

12 April 2012

A paternity test for baby-faced "father" Alfie Patten will not be paid for by his local authority, sources said.

Chantelle Steadman, 15, has said 13-year-old Alfie is the father of her baby daughter, Maisie, born a week ago in Eastbourne, East Sussex.

However, reports that at least two other boys said they also slept with the teenager at around the time she became pregnant have led Alfie to decide to take a DNA test, his spokesman Max Clifford said.

East Sussex County Council refused to comments on claims that its social services department would pay for the paternity test, but sources said that such tests would be up to the individuals to pay for, and not the local authority.

A spokesman for East Sussex Downs and Weald Primary Care Trust said the NHS also did not pay for DNA tests.

Matt Dunkley, director of children's services at the council, said it would not be making any further comment on the case.

He said: "Our primary duty is the protection of children and young people.

"We do not believe the interests of the children and young people in this case are being well served by the current media coverage of it.

"We will continue to do our professional job of supporting these children and young people and putting their interests first, and for that reason we will not be commenting on this issue further."

He added that the council would be referring the case to the Press Complaints Commission (PCC), which said it had launched an inquiry into alleged payments by The Sun and the People newspapers to the parents of Alfie.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in