'My bloke's ex-wife helped me give birth'
Friday 15 May 2009
Catherine Scott has had two things to celebrate during the last month - turning 18, and making jobless fiancé Dean Evans a dad of seven.
Last month, Closer told how the teenager - who had a son with a Big Issue seller twice her age at just 14 - was expecting twins with her 40-year-old lover.
And 10 days ago, Catherine gave birth to Presley and Amber after doctors performed an emergency Caesarean five weeks early, as Presley had a ruptured placenta.
Incredibly, Dean’s first wife - he has three ex-wives in total - was there to help Catherine through it.
Now, speaking exclusively to Closer from the maternity ward, the new mum says she’s determined to give her “angels” an entirely different start in life to that of her first born, who’s now four. He is cared for by her wealthy parents in their £1million detached home in Sevenoaks, Kent, after Catherine couldn’t cope.
She says: “I’ll make a good mum this time. I’m a natural with the twins because I’m more grown up. I can’t wait to take my babies out of the hospital to show them off. It’s mental!”
The couple live on Dean’s £16,000 a year benefits. Catherine has never worked and former builder Dean has been unemployed since September 2006.
But Catherine still bemoans the fact that they¹re having to make do with a three-bed council flat. Puffing on a cigarette outside the hospital in a fluffy pink dressing gown, she says: “The housing officer told us we’re not going to get the four-bedroom house we think we’re entitled to - it’s a farce.
“We’re not being fussy - we’d settle for a bungalow - but instead they’re saying we’ve got to stay at the three-bed flat in Margate - even though we don’t know anyone and there are 52 steps up to our front door. We also have to share the garden with six neighbours.”
Despite saying they struggle to live off Dean’s £16,000 benefits, the couple have spent a £550 loan and their £1,000 maternity grant on clothes and toys for the twins. Dean says: “I do my best on my benefits, but more money would be nice.”
Dean, who has five other children under 18, reveals: “I got a crisis loan off the DSS and topped it up with the government maternity grant so I could get them nice stuff. More than £1,000 went on clothes I got Presley a Spurs kit and bib! I also bought a double buggy and a couple of cots.
“We also got a new puppy, as our Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Charlie, died last month. We were so upset I had his face tattooed on my chest with “RIP Charlie.” We’ve bought a new one for £250 and called him Charlie as well. I want him to have good manners around the twins. Cats are more dangerous - my dad always had Rottweilers, and they were great with kids.”
Staring thoughtfully at the tots, Catherine admits: “We don’t want the twins to turn out like us. We want them to do well at school. I didn’t, because I left school at 12, and now Dean’s 13-year-old son Dylan is better at maths than me.
“Of course, if Amber fell pregnant when she was young I’d support her, but I’d rather she was a ballet dancer or a model.”
But Dean, who fell for Catherine when she was just 15, has a more strict approach.
“She won’t get pregnant young, as no man will get past me until she’s 25!” he says. “As for Presley, I want him to be a football star.”
Catherine and Dean got together in 2007, after Catherine moved in with Dean and his ex-wife Louise, 26. Louise has since branded Dean a love rat who is incapable of being faithful.
But Dean - who boasts of bedding 200 women - denies the allegations.
Raising a pierced eyebrow at his fiancée, he says: “I’ll never be unfaithful to Catherine - my Betty Boop - she’s sexier than ever. “I’ve learnt from my mistakes. I call Catherine ‘My Angelina’ because she’s got big lips like Angelina Jolie - and I’m her Brad Pitt!”
“Yeah, he’s my Brad,” agrees Catherine, as she snuggles up to Dean.
But despite being besotted with the new arrivals, Dean wasn’t there throughout the birth, as he found the thought “way too gory.” Catherine’s mother was also absent from the birth their relationship has become strained, and Dean doesn’t get along with his fiancée’s parents.
Instead, Dean convinced Catherine to allow his first wife, Sue Blake, 51 - who he split with in 1998 after cheating on her - to hold her hand during the traumatic birth on Saturday 2 May at Pembury Hospital in Kent.
Sue says: “Dean told me he’d faint if he had to be there, so I agreed to help. Catherine was scared. She’s only young and she needs mothering.” Catherine adds: “People might think it’s weird having Sue here, but it isn’t. They have Dylan together, so it’s important we get on. It’s not weird, it’s mature.”
First to arrive was Presley Martin - named after his father’s hero Elvis - weighing 4lbs 13oz. Amber Grace came next, weighing 5lbs 2oz.
Dean says: “I was going nuts in the corridor while I was waiting. I cleaned up Catherine’s sick after the birth, and I’ve been at the hospital from 9am until 9pm every day. I’ve expressed milk from her tit and I’ve changed nappies I don’t change the girl though, as it makes me feel uncomfortable, being a bloke.”
Dean and Catherine hope their twins will be discharged from hospital this week, and are planning to give their children “a good start” using a compensation payout they’re expecting for an injury Dean suffered in 2006, when a steel girdle impaled his groin and stopped him from working.
He insists: “I’m hoping for £200,000 if not more. It’s what I deserve. I used to be good with my hands, but I can’t do manual work now and, at 40, it’s too late for me to learn how to use computers. I’m not great at spelling or adding, so I can’t work in an office either. Even if I wanted to work, the medication for my injury makes me drowsy.”
Catherine, who plans to get her twins’ names tattooed on her shoulders, interrupts: “We’ll be OK we’ll get child benefit, child tax credits and milk tokens.”
Catherine’s parents - who disapprove of her relationship with Dean - visited her two days after the birth and even brought her son with them, but Dean couldn’t stand to be around them and they didn’t stay for long.
The couple, who got engaged in October, plan to tie the knot this year. Catherine says: “Getting married will be the icing on the cake.”
By Jocelyn Cook