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'I'LL NEVER LET THIS ONE GO'

Britain’s youngest mum who gave birth at 12 after being raped by her brother reveals she is pregnant by fiance

Tressa Middleton first fell pregnant aged 11 after she was raped by her brother and the child was adopted aged two

A MUM who was Britain's youngest when she gave birth aged 12 has revealed her joy after becoming pregnant again more than a decade later - and vowed: "I'll never let this one go".

Tressa Middleton first got pregnant aged 11 after she was raped by her brother. Her daughter was later taken into care.

 Tressa Middleton was Britain's youngest mum when she gave birth aged 12 in 2006
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Tressa Middleton was Britain's youngest mum when she gave birth aged 12 in 2006Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd

Now 23, Tressa says she has turned her life around after booze and drug addiction and has settled down with fiance Darren Young, 30.

But she is haunted by the absence of her firstborn and said she "feared the worst" when she struggled to conceive again, .

Tressa said: “Not having my daughter with me still affects me every single day and I thought I was being punished for what happened with her, for letting her go.

“I am so grateful I am finally going to be the mother I have longed to be all these years. But I don’t ever want my first child to think I abandoned her, or that I am replacing her with this new baby.

“I’d welcome her back tomorrow with open arms if I could and I hope she knows she will always be a part of our family.

“But this is the future for me and I can’t keep looking back. The past has made me even more determined to keep this child and give him or her the best possible life.”

The baby is due in the autumn.

 Tressa, now 23, is overjoyed to be expecting a child with fiance Darren Young, 30
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Tressa, now 23, is overjoyed to be expecting a child with fiance Darren Young, 30Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd

Tressa, of Bathgate, West Lothian, was Britain's youngest mum when she gave birth aged 12 in 2006.

She and the tot were put in protective care three weeks after the birth.

Tressa hid the father's identity but when her toddler daughter was two she revealed she had been raped by her brother Jason, then 16.

The child was formally adopted in 2008.

Devastated Tressa spent the next three years in and out of care homes and fell into a spiral of alcohol and heroin abuse.

Aged 18 she had kicked drugs and got pregnant with new boyfriend Darren, then 25 - but she had a miscarriage.

She said before she lost that baby: “It’s taken me back to how scared and confused I felt when I fell pregnant so young.

“Darren and I didn’t plan this baby and I had very mixed feelings when I found out I was pregnant.

“On the one hand I’m excited to be a mum again and get a second chance at happiness.

“But part of me is scared. I went through so much the first time and was so completely heartbroken when they took her away, I couldn’t go through it all again.

“I still sleep with my first daughter’s teddy every night — I’ve never let go of the love I have for her."

 Tressa and her baby in hospital with mum Tracey, who died in 2012
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Tressa and her baby in hospital with mum Tracey, who died in 2012Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd

In 2014 another 12-year-old girl took her mantle as Britain's youngest mum when she gave birth five months younger. The father was a boy aged 13 - the lowest combined age of any British parents in history.

Tressa offered to meet them and share her experience of motherhood.

She told The Sun: “I send her my warmest congratulations but it will be incredibly tough. At that age you’re so worried about what other people think at school.

“I had people throwing things at me with the baby in the buggy. And the bullies taunting you in the playground — that’s the worst.

“I was spat at, all sorts. I dearly hope that hasn’t happened for this mum.

"I didn’t and still don’t regret it."

She added after not seeing her daughter for six years: “I cry every single day. She is all I think about.”

Tressa's daughter will be 11 this summer, nearly as old as her when she first fell pregnant.

Tressa's own mother Tracey, who supported her through her teenage ordeal, died in 2012.


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