A boy who believed he'd impregnated his girlfriend at the age of 12 has been proven not to be a father by a DNA test.
Alfie Patten, now 13, took the test after six other teenagers came forward to claim they had also slept with Chantelle Steadman, the 15-year-old who gave birth to baby Maisie Roxanne last month.
The Daily Mirror reports the test has proven the infant is not Alfie's — a finding that is likely to leave the boy devastated.
"I didn’t know about DNA tests before but mum explained it's when they do a swab in your mouth and it tells if you're the dad," he was quoted as saying before undergoing the test.
"So if I have it, they can all shut up."
"It had not even crossed Alfie’s mind whether Chantelle had not been faithful to him," his mother Nicole said.
"He’s absolutely devastated that these lads say they slept with her."
Since the birth, Alfie has been a doting father who can’t bear to be separated from his daughter, welfare workers say.
Matters were complicated when Tyler Barker, 14, and Richard Goodsell, 16, came forward with claims they had also slept with Chantelle and could have fathered the baby.
Since then, four more boys claiming they had slept with Chantelle have also come forward.
And a family friend has previously alleged Alfie was a victim of a scam devised by his girlfriend's mother to cash in on publicity surrounding the young parents.
Teen mum Chantelle Steadman's mother told her 15-year-old daughter to say Alfie Patten was the father of Maisie Roxanne, according to Clive Sim.
He claims Penny Steadman had told her daughter Chantelle to keep quiet about other boys she had slept with because "she knew Alfie being the dad makes a better story".
"I think there's a big scam going on here" he was quoted by the Daily Mail as saying.
Both Chantelle's and Alfie's parents are thought to have already earned thousands of dollars in media deals since The Sun broke the story.
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