Conjoined twins are born

A teenager has become the youngest British woman to give birth to conjoined twins, after her two daughters were successfully delivered by Caesarean section yesterday morning.

Laura Williams, 18, and her husband Aled, 28, named the girls Faith and Hope after they decided not to heed early medical advice to abort the foetuses.

The twins are believed to be joined from breastbone to navel but have separate hearts. Only around 5 per cent of conjoined twins survive the first 24 hours, but doctors remain optimistic about the pair's chances as they are joined at the front.

The girls were delivered at University College Hospital in London, before being transferred to Great Ormond Street children's hospital, not far away. Only one in every 200,000 births is a conjoined twin, and since many die in childbirth the chances of a live birth are one in 400,000.

Mrs Williams, from Shrewsbury in Shropshire, had said: "If they're meant to be in this world and if they've come this far, we've got to hope they'll make it the rest of the way."

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