They look like friends who met at nursery school but Kaydon and Layton Richardson are in fact twin brothers with different-coloured skin.
The boys have celebrated their fourth birthday in the same week black parents Ben and Angela Ihegboro revealed their white daughter Nmachi to the world.
The genetic quirks make the children ‘two-in-a-million’ rarities that have fascinated doctors.
After hearing of the Ihegboro family’s incredible baby news, Kaydon and Layton’s mother Kerry said skin colour had been on her mind when giving birth to daughter Tiyannah recently.
‘I thought it was crazy. As much as it happened to me, the twins’ dad is white, so for it to happen to a black couple seems even stranger,’ she said.
‘When I was carrying Tiyannah I was wondering what colour she was going to be.
‘Before the twins I would have expected that any child of mine would have my colour in them.
‘But after Layton I wasn’t sure what she was going to look like.
‘When she was born she looked as though she was going to go dark but at about two weeks old it was clear she was white.
‘I was a little surprised as I thought Layton was a one-off.
‘Doctors can tell you what sex your baby is going to be but they can’t tell you what colour!’
She said: ‘It’s never been an issue up to now but I know that Layton notices the difference in their colour.
The boys were 20 minutes apart in 2006, with fair-skinned Layton born before Kaydon, who was much darker.
At the time international clinical geneticist Dr Stephen Withers said the likelihood of a mixed race woman having eggs that were predominantly for one skin colour was rare enough, let alone releasing two of them simultaneously and producing twins.
‘It’s probably a million to one chance,’ he said.
Their mother added: ‘You couldn’t find two twins who are more different.
Kaydon is hyper and excitable whereas Layton can be moody and stubborn. Kaydon is into arty stuff and jigsaws and Layton is crazy about superheroes.’
