14 DAY TRIAL // The UK has been recently shaken by the news of a 13 year-old boy, Alfie Patten, and his 15 year-old girlfriend, Chantelle Steadman, who have become the parents of a small girl named Masie Roxanne. At the time, most newspapers have focused on the story for a few days, but now new claims come to stir up spirits again – two other teenagers, 16 year-old Richard Goodsell and 14 year-old Tyler Barker, claim that they are the real fathers of the baby girl. As a result, Alfie said that he would like to go through with a DNA test, following the advice he got from his father.
“A DNA test is the only way to settle this once and for all. When Nicola told me he was going to be a dad, I said: 'How do you know it’s his?' I kept asking if he was sure because I thought a boy of his age wasn’t capable of conceiving. And Alfie looks so much younger than 13. That’s the point of all this. He looks a little kid himself and it’s so shocking,” Alfie's father, 45 year-old Dennis Patten, explained in an interview for The People newspaper.
Over the past 5 days, little Alfie has been in the spotlight of the British media, with reporters bothering him about interviews several times every day. Finally, when one of them reached the youngster and sat down with him for some details, he gave very short answers to questions that had been on everyone's mind since the news broke. When asked if he loved Chantelle, he replied “Dunno.” He admitted that he didn't get her a Valentine's day card, and that he was upset on account of the fact that the two other boys were claiming to be Masie's fathers. He told the press that his father had asked him to take a DNA test, and that he would comply.
A long distance away from Alfie's house, politicians in London are now discussing the current situation, and are laying the blame on each other for the “broken Britain,” a concept that points to the country being on the verge of collapse, socially speaking, with more and more drug consumption, severe crimes, and unplanned pregnancies taking place year after year.
“It exemplifies the point we have been making about broken Britain. It's not being accusative, it's about pointing out the collapse in some parts of society of any sense of what's right and wrong,” Iain Duncan Smith, a former Tory leader, pointed out.