As if that wasn't enough, 1.2 million went on to watch the online video clip of Alfie and his partner and baby, and 180,000 people left comments on the website's message boards. You can guess what most of them had to say.
The story attracted huge international coverage. A film crew was despatched to follow Alfie and his new family. And one of our biggest bookmakers started taking bets on who the father really was. If Britain really is broken, then it's not children and young people, but profiteering adults, who are doing most of the demolition.
All in all, it was a sad story of manipulation and greed. It only stopped after a high court judge slapped a media ban on reporting any new information about the case. But if sex sells, then underage sex seems to sell even better. There can be no doubt that there will be another Alfie. And, next time, he may live in your town or city.
So where does that leave us? New figures released by the Office for National Statistics may show a slight year-on-year increase in teenage pregnancy rates, but the long-term trend is still in the downward direction.
You wouldn't think it from some of the media coverage, but figures show that, overall, there has been almost an 11 per cent reduction in under-18 conceptions and a 23 per cent decline in teenage births since the start of the government's strategy in 1998.
Here in Southend, the new data identified that we had 127 teenage conceptions in 2007 - which is 127 too many. But, as a result of our teenage pregnancy strategy, that number has fallen by more than a quarter since 2000. Not bad. But we still want to do better.
We've got our strategy right. It is focused on encouraging young people to delay having sex and to make the right contraception choices and practice safer sex when they do.
But we also know that tackling teenage pregnancy requires sustained action by local authorities, the NHS, schools, the voluntary and community sector and, most importantly, parents, carers and young people themselves.
Finding something positive to say about the coverage of the Alfie Patten case is difficult. But no one can deny that people are interested in the issue. They want to read about it, talk about it and have their say about it.
Unlike many other issues that struggle to attract attention, we've got the opportunity to draw more people into the conversation about how to reduce teenage conception, and to empower them to get involved.
We know the why; now we just have to work out the how.
- Michael Bracey is a local authority youth support services manager. Email michael.bracey@haymarket.com
