A TRAGIC youngster who cooked and cleaned for her two brothers and her pensioner father gave birth to his baby when she was just 13, a court heard yesterday.

The court was also told that the girl's mother was barred from entering Britain.

The girl was six months pregnant when she went to the family's GP complaining of sickness, said Graham Reeds, prosecuting.

Her father, aged 69, who was called to the surgery by the doctor to give him the news, reacted with: "How can I ever show my face, what am I going to do, what am I going to say?"

The child told a story of being raped by a white boy as she walked home from school in Middlesbrough.

But when police told her that samples would be taken for DNA testing which would show 100 per cent who her attacker was she admitted her father was responsible, Teesside Crown Court heard.

He was arrested on February 4 at their home, but in two interviews he maintained she was lying, said Mr Reeds.

The baby was born in April, meaning she had conceived just days after her 13th birthday. It was put up for adoption.

Judge Tony Briggs banned publication of anything which might identify the girl who is now in care.

Peter Makepeace, defending said: "Everybody who has seen him, the probation officer and the pyschiatrist all speak of a deep and really heartfelt shame that this defendant carries with him and a self-loathing for what he has done to this girl."

She told police that he needs help and that she still loved him, said Mr Makepeace.

The father was jailed for seven years after he pleaded guilty to three charges of incest.

He was put on the Sex Offenders' Register for life.

The judge told him: "She had a child while no more than a child herself. She clearly trusted, loved and respected you and tried to protect you. You abused that trust.

"You have done her immense damage both mentally and socially. You must have known you were doing that.