This girl is just 12 and she is pregnant by a boy of 15

Amy Crowhurst is four months pregnant. She is also just 12 years old.

Her child was conceived in a one-night stand at the local youth club with a 15-year-old boy. She does not know his surname or where he lives.

'I know I was stupid to get pregnant but I'm not that bothered really,' she admitted yesterday. 'Of course I wish it had never happened but it's too late now.'

Amy, one of Britain's youngest recorded mothers-to-be, spoke to the Daily Mail after we were invited into the family home in Crawley, West Sussex.

This consists of two council houses knocked into one - to accommodate the still growing family of Amy's 42-year-old mother Rose.

She has given birth to nine children by two different fathers. The children's ages range from 21 years to just four months old.

Three years ago Amy's father walked out on the family and set up home with another woman. Since then her mother has had a number of relationships.

The most recent of these resulted in the birth of Amy's youngest sibling, a boy called Momodou whose father has since returned to his wife and children in the Gambia.

Speaking with her mother's approval Amy - who smokes, and has had her nose, ears and belly button pierced - said: 'I don't really mind because I don't like school anyway and now I don't have to go any more.

'I don't need to go to ante-natal classes because nobody knows more than my mum about bringing up children.'

Two weeks ago a doctor confirmed that Amy was pregnant. At first she had been reluctant to tell her mother, but suspicions were aroused when Amy began putting on weight and fainted.

She had confided in her mother that she was missing periods.

'But I put that down to smoking,' said Mrs Crowhurst, who knew her daughter was already a regular smoker. 'When she kept putting on weight I went out and bought a home pregnancy kit, which was when we found out the truth.'

The child's teenage father does not know about the pregnancy. Amy's mother knows only that he is 'a Jamaican boy from London' who visited Crawley for a night out.

Amy claims to have had sex with the boy only once. The result of that meeting has been the end of Amy's childhood.

She can no longer play sport or even go to school with her friends. After missing several weeks of school her own personal tutor visited her at home for the first time yesterday.

Mrs Crowhurst said she had been surprised by her daughter's pregnancy because 'she knows all about condoms and that'.

She added: 'I don't think she realises the magnitude of what she has done yet.

'She thinks it's all exciting being pregnant and having a baby, but she is throwing half her life away. She's really just a girl herself. She is still a giggly little 12-year-old at heart. But she's mature for her age and I'm sure she'll be a good mum.'

The family lives on £185-a-week benefits, as Mrs Crowhurst has given up her job as a dinner lady to care for her clan.

Amy's father, Peter Crowhurst, a 47-year-old maintenance engineer, was unavailable for comment yesterday but is said to have 'reluctantly' accepted his daughter's intention to go through with the pregnancy.

He is understood to be 'deeply concerned' that Amy, who wears his wedding ring on a chain around her neck, is racing towards motherhood when she is still so young.

Amy said: 'I am worried about the actual birth because I'm so small and I know it's quite painful.

'But I know I can cope. I've had lots of practice with my brothers and sisters. I know all about feeding, bathing and changing.'

She rejected talk of an abortion after seeing a scan of her unborn child. Nevertheless, claims of maturity pale into insignificance when the 12-year-old reveals that her only craving during pregnancy is for sweets.

Social services have visited the family. 'But they said everything was fine and they haven't made any arrangements to come back,' said Mrs Crowhurst.

A spokesman for West Sussex social services said: 'We produce an individually tailored package of care and support for the child and family.

'This is arranged in close consultation with them, with colleagues in the education department and with the health service.'

Britain's youngest mother is believed to be a girl of 11, who fell pregnant when she was just ten. The world's youngest recorded mother was an eight-year-old from Arkansas in the U.S., who had twins in 1994.