Father mourned for aborted baby after partner lied

A father duped into believing his baby had been aborted told a jury yesterday that he had mourned the child.

Perth Sheriff Court was told the childs mother and her gay friend claimed to be the natural parents. Picture: TSPL

The man said he had been excited when he discovered his partner was pregnant, then felt bereft when she claimed she had terminated the pregnancy.

He told a jury yesterday that it was not until a long time after the birth that he realised his daughter was alive and being raised by another man.

Perth Sheriff Court was told the child’s mother and her gay friend had signed the birth certificate and claimed to be the natural parents. They are on trial for fraud, accused of duping the biological father into thinking the child had been aborted.

The two accused cannot be named for legal reasons. They have accepted they put their names on the birth certificate and the ­biological father was not aware she had been born.

The court was told that the gay man claimed the baby girl had been given to him by a lesbian lawyer acting as a surrogate. .

The father told the court: “I was gutted. I questioned [his ex] a couple of weeks after and she informed me she did terminate the child. I was sad and mourned for a while because I thought the child was dead.

“My head was a bit messed up,” he said. “I have missed everything for the first three years. I’ve missed the most important time in any child’s life for bonding and will never be able to get that again. It makes me angry to know what they have done.”

He told the trial he had been “over the moon” when he discovered the woman – withwhom he had a three month relationship – had fallen pregnant with his child. “I love having children,” he said. “She got more and more reluctant about having the child near the end of our relationship. She split up with me and told me she was going to have an abortion.”

Members of the jury heard the male accused, who is 35 and from Glasgow, told the biological father he had used “a turkey baster” to inseminate the fictional Clare Green.

The father said he was suspicious about the gay man’s story and eventually began a civil court case which led to the child being DNA tested – and proven to be his “terminated” daughter.

He told the jury he had married since the birth and had also formally obtained custody of the child at the centre of the case.

His former lover denied in a police interview that she had set the hoax up to make between £100 to £300 and said: “I never received any money.”

The 29-year-old woman, from Perth, and her gay friend are alleged to have formed a fraudulent scheme to deny the child’s father his parental rights. They are alleged to have made up a series of claims to dupe the father into thinking the child had never been born.

It is alleged that between 1 June 2010 and 18 April 2013 they carried out the fraud in Perth. It is also alleged the mother pretended to the real father she had terminated the pregnancy and pretended to another named woman she was not pregnant.

The couple deny the charges and the trial, before Sheriff ­William Wood, continues.