Tressa Middleton made headlines in 2006 as Britain’s youngest mom, giving birth at just 12 years and 8 months old.
Her pregnancy sparked national outrage, and she couldn’t step outside without being recognized.
At the time, Tressa claimed the baby’s father was a local boy—but the truth was far more shocking…
Tressa Middleton was born into poverty
Tressa Middleton was born in 1994, in Broxburn, Scotland. She was forced to grow up fast when she was taken into care at just four years old.
Reflecting on her early childhood, Tressa said: ”My mom was homeless, and I had to go into care. All my friends were older than me. I also started drinking when I was eight or nine.”
”I remember one day, my foster carers arranged a birthday party for me at McDonald’s and let me see my brother, Jason.”
When Tressa was finally able to move back in with her mother, it was into a chaotic existence. Her mother struggled to make ends meet, and when winter arrived, their apartment became very cold and dark.
Her mother’s income was rarely enough to even turn on the gas, and when Tressa woke up, she could see the clouds of her breath escaping from her mouth. If there was money for heat, it went to a small radiator in the living room. Often, there was only one meal a day for Tressa to eat.
Took the child from her
Tressa was just 11 years old when her pregnancy became public, and it was believed to have resulted from an alcohol-fueled encounter.
Raised in a troubled and poor home with a mother struggling with addiction, Tressa gave birth shortly after finishing elementary school.
Two years after the birth of her daughter, Annie, the baby was taken from Tressa.
The young mother was unable to care for her daughter and struggled with depression and addictions to alcohol and cigarettes.
“She was given to new parents, but I was allowed to see her every day for about six months before contact stopped. The last time I saw her was at a crèche – but she was crying for her new parents. It broke my heart,” Tressa told Closer.
All this pressure, public scrutiny and heartbreak became too much for Tressa to handle. And there was also another issue that haunted her — the identity of the child’s father.
Nobody knew the truth
Initially, Tressa claimed that a young local boy had gotten her pregnant, but the truth was much darker. The father’s identity remained a secret until 2009 when the young mother broke down and confided to authorities that she had been sexually abused by her older brother, Jason Middleton.
Tressa had became pregnant after her brother, then 16, took her to a construction site where he attacked her.
”We used to go there and play our bikes. One minute he was absolutely find and the next everything was different,” Tressa told ITV.
It wasn’t long after the incident that Tressa’s body began to change.
Her friend was the first to suggest she might be pregnant. She pulled Tressa aside one day and mentioned the possibility, but Tressa tried to deny it. Her friend insisted they should check, so they had her friend’s father buy a pregnancy test.
The terrible, dark secret
The next morning, Tressa took the test, and it confirmed that she was pregnant.
Tressa never considered terminating the pregnancy, as she didn’t believe in abortion, even at that young age. She and her friend went to her mother’s house to ask her to tell her, but her aunt was there instead. Tressa’s friend told her aunt that she was pregnant, and her aunt immediately told her to hide.
When her mother heard the news, she was in the bath but ran out after Tressa, wrapped in a towel, and chased her into the street.
It wasn’t until after the birth of her daughter, that Tressa finally found the courage to reveal the true identity of the father.
$500-a-day heroin addiction
Jason, now 35, was found guilty of rape after DNA evidence linked him to the crime. He was sentenced to four years in prison by the High Court in Glasgow.