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Jeremy Armstrong

Notorious love rat branded 'Britain's worst dad' with 16 kids by 15 women settles down

A notorious love rat, once dubbed 'the worst dad in Britain' has finally settled down.

Keith MacDonald, 37, who has 16 kids by 15 different women, is now in a steady relationship with Kimberley Welford, the mother of one of his sons.

The unlikely lothario is said to have changed his ways at long last after years of having children by a string of different women, reports the Mirror.

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He told friends that he is serious about Kimberley, also 37. And she confirmed that they are in a permanent relationship. They first met eight years ago and they have a son who is now aged six.

Keith posted an image of their son on social media, believed to be his 16th child, with friends saying he is the ‘double’ of his dad.

He hit the headlines in 2010 after he sired a massive brood by various different girlfriends.

The children had cost the taxpayer £2m in benefits payments because Keith was jobless at the time. He was said to have sired another set of twins during lockdown.

But Kimberley denied that was possible, saying: “There is not a chance he could have had twins then.”

Originally from Wearside, the bus stop ‘Romeo’ is said to have settled down in a bungalow in Esh Winning, Co Durham. He declined to comment on his relationship with Kimberley, but has told how he used to chat up women on buses in the past.

He refused to use contraception and was father to six children by the time he turned 20, including two who he said were conceived on double-decker buses.

In 2008 he bragged: “It’s not my fault - I thought they were all on the pill. “Lasses keep on coming up to me.”

He first became a dad at 15 and rarely worked after leaving school as he found it “boring”. He had previously claimed incapacity allowance for a “bad back”.

In 2011, he tried to fake his own death in a bid to shirk responsibility for his ninth child, according to an ex.

He appeared on The Jeremy Kyle Show and in a Channel 5 documentary, 40 Kids By 20 Women, in 2015.

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