The dad of a 12-year-old girl who has had a baby said yesterday: "I'm proud to be a granddad."
The girl – who was at primary school when she conceived last summer - has, with her 13-year-old boyfriend, won the dubious title of Britain's youngest parents after having the baby.
The girl's dad – who has not been named – called Nick Ferrari's radio show on LBC to say: "That little girl does not bring shame to me at all, I'm so proud of her. Shame doesn't even come into it.
"She's still my little girl whether she's done that or not. I'd rather come home and have had this, than find that she's on drugs at 11 or 12.
"There's plenty of routes in this day and age that kids can go down. I mean come on, she's not the first person, she's not the last person.
"There's other kids out there that are on drugs at this age and doing all sorts of other stuff.
"You know what, she's brought something beautiful into the world and we're all going to stand by her and support this.
"I'm proud to be a grandad."
But he added: "I sort of cried I suppose, as any father would do. You break down with emotion. I broke down."
Describing his reaction when he first found out his daughter was expecting, he said: "It is heartbreaking. I mean of course it is.
"For any man to find out their daughter has become pregnant, it is. But you can't turn back time, you can only go forwards.
"Once the mistake's been made, you can only support them.
"You can either be supportive about it. There is no option for adoption or anything like that, we don't believe in that.
"The family from both sides are going to be very supportive, we have been very supportive."
But, he added: "Unfortunately, we found out the situation a month ago. We didn't know this was happening.
"Unfortunately, kids this age are going to grow up to have boyfriends and partners or whatever.
"If they do things behind their parents' backs that's something we're never going to be able to find out. We only found that she was actually pregnant a month ago.
"For us what can you do? She was eight months pregnant. The baby is going to come into the world no matter what."
What high expectations this man has - pregnant or on drugs at 11!