A PROUD father of identical twin girls from Sale will be able to give his daughters plenty of help as they grow up.

For Mark Whitaker, of Newlyn Drive, is an identical twin himself. His wife, Nicola, gave birth to the second generation of twins at Wythenshawe Hospital on August 9.

Lauren arrived first, weighing in at six pounds seven ounces, followed two minutes later by her slightly bigger sister Hannah, who was six pounds 13 ounces.

The girls were an early birthday present for Mark, who celebrated his 29th birthday the following day.

Software engineer Mark says: "It's amazing. There was a case in Swansea where a twin became the father of non-identical twins, and the chances of that happening were 37 million to one!

"As far as we know, it's not something that runs in the family either. Non-identical twins tend to run on the mother's side of the family, but this is just a freak occurrence."

The couple found out that they were having twins in February when they had their first scan. They did not know they were identical until after the birth, when DNA tests were carried out.

Mark says Lauren and Hannah look exactly the same, just as he and his brother Simon do.

He says: "We look very much alike - our wives can tell us apart, which is a good thing! "

He believes his daughters will enjoy being identical twins - but they could give their teachers a headache.

He says: "I think it's great. You get the chance to have a laugh, and my brother and I used to confuse our teachers a lot.

"It's nice to grow up with someone who's just the same as you. I think they will enjoy it."

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