'I'll go abroad to keep my baby': Pregnant again mother of 13 vows to save new baby as sister calls for her to be sterilised



'Baby factory': Theresa Winters pictured with partner Tony Housden is pregnant with her 14th child

A pregnant woman who has had all 13 of her previous children taken into care has vowed to flee abroad to prevent social workers taking away her 14th.

Theresa Winters, 36, says leaving the country could be the only way she and partner Tony Housden will be allowed to keep the child.

It comes as her sister Louise Walls said she was ashamed of her own sibling and called for her to be sterilised.

Miss Winters, a heavy smoker who was herself taken into care as a teenager, accused social workers of failing to help her achieve her deepest wish of having a family and she would keep giving birth until she is allowed to keep one.

She told the Sun: 'Leaving the country would be the easiest thing to do. If we had the money we would go tomorrow.

'Then these people wouldn't be able to touch us.

'People think we're bad parents but we're not. We have changed - since we had the first five babies anyway.

'No one has given us a chance since then.'

Miss Winters has now spent more than 10 years of her life pregnant and is four months from giving birth to her 14th child.



Mr Housden, 36, said: 'We don't want to scrounge off taxpayers' money. We want to work and do the right thing but we don't feel we're being given a chance.

'If we could leave the country we would. Then we would grow up like a real family and keep our baby.'

The couple, who live on £1,100 in benefits, believe they could save enough money to move abroad.

Louise Walls, 37, accused her sister of having more children out of 'pure spite'.

The mother-of-three told the Daily Mirror: 'She should be sterilised. She's going to end up with 20 kids taken into care.

'It has to be stopped. I'm ashamed to be her sister.

'Spite': Louise Walls, 37, Miss Winter's sister, says her sibling does not care about the children and should be sterilised

'She's not worried about the babies - she's told me that. She said that every time they take one she will just have another and they can pay for it.

'She's used to them taking her children so it doesn't affect her. She is sick.'

Miss Winter, who lives in a one-bedroom flat in Luton, Bedfordshire, had her first child with ex-husband Wayne Redding at 19.



Their daughter, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was taken away in 1994 aged two after the couple were accused of neglect.

Two years later their next child was also taken away. Miss Winter then began an affair with Mr Housden, who had been a lodger in their home.

She divorced Mr Redding, a New Zealander, and went on to have another 11 children with Mr Housden, all of whom have been taken into care.

Halfway there: Theresa and Tony with baby number six in 1999

TIMELINE TO THERESA WINTERS' CHILDREN

August 1992 - Girl January 1994 - Boy January 1995 - Boy September 1996 - Boy September 1997 - Boy May 1999 - Girl June 2000 - Girl June 2001 - Boy September 2002 - Girl November 2003 - Boy January 2006 - Girl March 2007 - Girl March 2008 - Boy

Four of them were found to have a rare and degenerative condition, which has a genetic link, after birth. One of those has since died.

The couple have been told they cannot keep the children due to 'concerns about severe neglect, lack of parenting ability and the consequent risk to any child in their care'.

Mrs Walls added: 'It breaks my heart to think of those little children. What life will they lead?

'When I ask why she keeps getting pregnant she says "I don't give a s***. I want the Government to pay". It's pure spite.'

The couple were able to see some of the children when they turned two in supervised visits at contact centres.

But Miss Winters said: 'Now we are not allowed to see them at all.

'Sometimes we are sent photographs of them, but nothing after they are aged about six.

'The birth certificates are the only proof I've got that they're my kids.'

Miss Winters, who left school with no qualifications and worked as a factory packer until giving birth to her first child, receives £271 a month disability allowance. An accident left it difficult for her to walk.

Mr Housden, 36, is her registered carer and they receive £511.33 a month in income support, plus £300 a month for housing benefit and council tax on their one-bedroom flat.

Latest arrival, a boy born last year. Ms Winters has not been allowed to keep any of her children beyond the age of two

This baby boy who was born in 2003 has since died

Mr Housden used to work as a pizza delivery man but gave up 17 years ago.

Speaking openly of her past Miss Winters said she had not been a 'perfect person'. 'Back in 1992 I was a bit aggressive, but never towards the kids,' she said.

'I told them off as any normal person would. I shouted at them. But I never hit them.

'In one sense they were right to take them away. I was young. It could have turned violent with social services.

'They looked at it thinking that if I was aggressive towards social services, I'd be aggressive towards my kids.'

She added that she had 'calmed down' now.

A spokesman for Luton Council said: 'It is a court process that results in babies being separated from their parents and throughout the process, parents can be legally represented and fully involved.'