Soldier's DNA released in paternity battle

A young mother from Warrington has won her fight to prove her fiancé fathered their daughter before he was killed in Afghanistan.

Emma Hickman, 19, who was engaged to Private Daniel Wade, struggled to officially name him as the father of five-month-old Lexie-Mai because of a legal wrangle over his DNA.

Pte Wade, of 3rd Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment, died in a Taliban bomb attack in March, three months before his daughter's birth.

Because he and Miss Hickman were unmarried, she had to press the Ministry of Defence to release his DNA so she could prove paternity and name him on the birth certificate.

Prime Minister David Cameron last month pledged to tackle the "dreadful situation", saying it "could not be allowed to continue".

Officials have now released a sample proving Pte Wade was the father - and making Lexie-Mai and her family, from Warrington, eligible for compensation.

Miss Hickman said: "It has never ever been about the money; it is about Lexie-Mai's right to know who her father is. Dan was so looking forward to being a daddy. He used to carry her scan picture with him under his body armour when he went out on patrol. He helped me choose her name and was so proud he was going to be a father."

Miss Hickman's solicitor Jennifer Roulston, of QualitySolicitors Forshaws Davies Ridgway in Warrington, said: "It is appalling that Emma's trauma at losing her fiancé just before the birth of her daughter should be compounded by this legal wrangle to establish her fiancé's paternity.

"We are delighted Daniel's family has agreed to release the DNA sample and Daniel's paternity has at last been established. Emma is so relieved she can finally enter his name on her daughter's birth certificate."

Pte Wade, 20, died with five comrades in Helmand when his Warrior armoured fighting vehicle was blown up by a roadside bomb.