Squeezed into a four-bedroom council house in Guernsey lives a woman branded the UK's most prolific single mother.
Joanne Watson, 40, has 14 children, ranging in age from three to 22 and survives largely on state benefits after the breakdown of her marriage in 2010.
Once celebrated in endless articles in the press for her clan of immaculately turned-out blonde children, who were then supported entirely by the salary of her hardworking husband John, Joanne Watson and her family have now become figures of ridicule - and even hate.
The family's bubble was burst four years ago when an accident meant John, 46, had to give up work as a lorry driver.
The financial pressure of caring for his 14 children meant John made a decision he will forever regret. As his health improved and with bills mounting, John claimed benefits while simultaneously taking some earnings.
Joanne leaps to her ex-
husband's defence. 'He wasn't doing it to go on holidays and buy mobile phones,' Jo says. 'He was doing it to support us.'
The publicity the case attracted has made life - one that was already played out in the public eye - yet more difficult for the Watson children. Georgia, 15, says her regular appearance in the papers makes life at her school in St Martins very difficult.
'When I was in town this week, a woman looked at me and said, "Oh look, it's the baby-making machine." I just glared at her,' Jo adds. 'Sod them all,' she says. 'This is the way I am.'
'Our family is huge, laments one of the littlest boys. There's a new one born nearly every year. Being in a big family is horrible. If she has any more, that's it, this house won't fit us.'
Indeed, the house is full to bursting. With 11 children still living at home, getting ready for school is a military style operation, with little uniformed bodies filing out of the front door in a seemingly endless line. Packed lunches are a production line involving bags of fruit and dozens of sandwiches. There are mountains of washing to be done daily - 56 loads a month, to be precise.
Joanne pays only £27 a week rent for the house, a heavily subsidised fraction of the normal cost, receives a total of £160 a week in family allowance for the 11 children still living at home, and another £405 a week in supplementary benefit. But money is still tight, and a budget must be adhered to.
