Blue star Lee Ryan blasted for not giving cash to support his love-child
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Will Payne www.mirror.co.uk will-payne
BLUE singer Lee Ryan has failed to pay regular maintenance to the mother of his love child.
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The Mirror
BLUE singer Lee Ryan has failed to pay regular maintenance to the mother of his love child... despite a promise to support her when she was born.

Lee, 27, who will represent the UK with the boyband at next month’s Eurovision song contest, rarely sees Bluebelle.

And his ex-partner Jessica Keevil, 25, has been left to bring up their daughter alone.

Ryan vowed to play an active role in Bluebelle’s life when he was told he had a ­daughter – ­after insisting on a ­paternity test. At the time he said: “I’ll definitely be a part of my daughter’s life.”

But Bluebelle’s grandmother said her daughter struggled without the singer’s help and branded him a “terrible dad”. Jessica’s mother Janet ­Stowell, of Rochester, Kent, claimed Ryan rarely gave his daughter maintenance and said: “Lee’s been a nightmare. Jess has had to ­battle to bring their daughter up all by herself.

“It’s as if his own child is an ­inconvenience to him. Every time we ask for help he ignores us.”

The revelation is ­another embarrassment for Blue, who ­recently reformed after splitting up in 2005.In February, three days after they were ­chosen for Eurovision, the ­Sunday Mirror caught fellow band member ­Anthony Costa, 30, urinating against a London cashpoint.

Ryan, who has said he lost all the money he made with Blue and was at one stage on the verge of bankruptcy, met ­Jessica at a Kent nightclub in 2007.

The couple went on a string of dates and later Jessica told Ryan she was expecting his baby. But he broke off contact before Bluebelle’s birth in 2008. In 2009 he ­accepted Bluebelle was his after undergoing a paternity test. At the time his spokesman said: “Lee is sorting out access and child support. He will be 100pc part of the child’s life.”

Janet said: “I was there when Jess told Lee they were having a child. He seemed happy to start with but he panicked after that. From that moment on it was clear he did not want his child.”

Janet said Ryan has barely bothered to visit his little girl. She said: “He has never been there. He has probably seen Bluebelle a handful of times. On one occasion he came round to our house to see her but seemed like he was in a rush. Bluebelle was delighted to see him but Lee was so distant.”

Janet said Ryan told Jessica that he “doesn’t feel he connects” with his daughter. But ­Bluebelle is so in awe of her dad that she dances in front of the TV every time a Blue music video comes on. Janet said: “She absolutely adores him. It’s heartbreaking.”

After splitting from Jessica, Ryan got together with Samantha Miller, who is now his fiancée. The couple have a two-year-old son, Rayn, who is just months younger than Bluebelle.

Janet, who has advised Jessica to go to the Child Support ­Agency about Ryan, said: “Everyone thinks Lee is a lovely, nice guy but we’ve seen nothing but an immature fool who doesn’t want to help his daughter.”

A spokesman for the singer said Ryan paid Jessica money as and when he could. The spokesman added: “Lee has being paying maintenance since he found out Bluebelle was his child. It has not been a regular amount because he has not been earning much money. Lee transferred money into Jessica’s account only last week. He takes his role as father of Bluebelle very seriously.”