FORMER England ace Ledley King has heartlessly abandoned his daughter and never met his son, the star’s ex-lover claimed last night.
The one-time Tottenham Hotspur captain, 34, proudly showed off his son from an earlier relationship — ten-year-old Coby — in magazine pictures from his wedding this month, but he is accused of “airbrushing” his two other kids out of his life.
Centre-half King pays child maintenance and has provided a rent-free home for Tianna, six, and three-year-old Ethan. But their mother Emma Paton claims he has kept the children a secret and even failed to mention them in his autobiography.
Emma said: “It’s disgusting and inhumane. The children don’t deserve to be treated so harshly. What sort of man can forget his children? It’s time he acknowledges his kids and starts being a father to them.
“A good man would have made amends with his kids before his wedding. It’s cruel, heartless and sickening.
“They ask where their dad is all the time and they have both recognised him on the TV when he has worked as a pundit. Ethan has a real passion for football, but he has never met his dad let alone had a kickabout with him.”
Ledley and Emma first contacted each other on social networking site MySpace in 2006 and met up the following year. Emma, 32, would travel from her home in Manchester for romantic breaks in hotels near his Hertfordshire mansion.
She said: “It was great and he was absolutely amazing. He was caring, he was kind and I never thought for a second that the guy I knew then would be the guy I know now.”
Emma told Ledley that she was pregnant in March 2008 and the Spurs ace visited her family home with his mum Beverlee a few weeks after Tianna was born.
Despite their on-off relationship, Emma would bring Tianna to stay with the Premier League star for a few days at a time in between matches.
But things became tense in April 2011 when Emma revealed she was expecting their second child.
Unknown to Emma, Ledley had already started dating PA Amy Kavanagh. He told guests at their wedding: “From that moment on, I only had eyes for Amy.”
But Emma claimed she was still seeing Ledley regularly during that time — and one of those meetings led to Ethan’s conception.
She said Ledley told Amy about the pregnancy on the night of his Spurs team-mate Jermaine Jenas’s wedding in June 2011 — and his now-wife bombarded Emma with calls.
Emma added: “After Amy found out I was pregnant she confessed to trying to track me down.
“I knew nothing at all about her until she messaged me on Facebook asking for my number.
“Ledley went crazy when he found out that he got caught and told me that he ‘wouldn’t be around’ and to ‘take care’.
“After a few weeks of no contact I tried to call him to make arrangements for him to see Tianna, but he had changed his number. Tianna has never seen him since.
“Ledley was absent for the birth of our son. I was cradling him in front of the TV and witnessed him visiting sick children in hospital in December of that year with his team-mates, but he had still failed to meet his son.”
The millionaire player failed to mention Tianna and Ethan in his autobiography. But he does talk openly in interviews about Coby.
Ledley flew home from England’s Euro 2004 campaign to be with then-partner Stephanie Carter when Coby was born nine weeks prematurely.
He told guests at his wedding — including former Spurs pals Jermain Defoe and Kyle Walker — how important his son was to him and his new wife. Amy added: “We wanted him to be a big part of our day.”
Beauty therapist Emma, who lives near Ascot, Berks, said: “It breaks my heart when Tianna sees Ledley on TV and says, ‘There’s my daddy’, and Ethan and her ask where he is and if he’s coming to see them.
“I never say a bad word about him to them because, after all, he is their dad. I have to say that he’s working away, but they keep asking when they can see him.
“Ledley is a grown man and should have manned up and been a father from day one instead of ignoring them.
“It makes my blood boil that he has constantly failed to see or mention them. It’s like they have just been airbrushed out of his life.
“He has failed to even send them a birthday or Christmas card.” However, she added: “Ledley and I have been over for years and I wish him well in his marriage. All I want is to encourage a relationship between the children and their father. That is all I can ask for.”
A spokeswoman for Ledley said last night: “Mr King believes matters concerning his children to be private and personal.
“He has never ‘repeatedly discussed’ Coby in public in any detail and hence neither Tianna nor Ethan. Mr King regrets that the situation with Ms Paton is not currently amicable. He remains committed to seeking the best possible outcome for all concerned.”
Fastest scorer in the Prem
- LEDLEY King joined Tottenham aged 14 and made his debut against Liverpool four years later in May 1999.
- HE made 268 Premier League appearances and scored ten goals, including the fastest ever in the division — after 9.7 seconds in 2000.
- HE was booked just eight times and never sent off.
- KING captained Tottenham, his only club, to win the Carling Cup in February 2008.
- THE defender played 21 games for England, scoring two goals.
- HE retired in 2012 after knee problems. Boss Harry Redknapp once called him an “absolute freak” because he played well with little training.
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