Over two years, a man in the United Kingdom was drawn into an intricate fiction — believing himself a father, grieving, celebrating, and ultimately being arrested — while the children at the centre of it all almost certainly never existed. A UK High Court judge has now ruled that his former partner orchestrated a sustained campaign of deception, extracting £30,000 through fabricated pregnancies, forged evidence, and false allegations of abuse. The case sits at the uncomfortable intersection of psychological cruelty, possible financial predation, and the unresolved question of what drives a per
Woman's 'extraordinary' fake pregnancy deception costs ex-partner £30,000
The man was arrested and held on remand for several months based on false abuse allegations, and both he and his mother experienced prolonged psychological harm from the deception.
A sustained and elaborate campaign of deceit that was, above all, cruel.
Mark
So she actually convinced him she was pregnant? Like, visibly pregnant?
Mimi
Yes. She told him in late 2022, sent ultrasound images, appeared to be showing as time went on. The whole thing looked real to him.
Luke
But how? How do you fake being visibly pregnant for months?
Mimi
The court documents don't say. She just did. He believed it.
Mark
And then she had him arrested?
Mimi
She called the police in May 2023, just before the first baby was due, and said he'd assaulted her. He was arrested and held on remand for several months.
Luke
On remand—so he was in custody the whole time she was supposedly giving birth?
Mimi
Yes. While he was inside, she sent messages to his stepfather saying the baby had been born. She sent baby photos.
Mark
Where did the photos come from?
Luke
That's the thing—the court doesn't say. They're just described as "baby photos." Could be stock images, could be photos of other people's children, could be AI-generated. We don't know.
Mimi
The judge noted she also sent voice notes to his mother in the middle of the night with a baby crying in the background.
Mark
And he believed all of this?
Mimi
He did. For two years. He paid her about £30,000.
Luke
Over what period exactly?
Mimi
Two years. The ruling doesn't break down when the payments started or stopped.
Mark
Why did it end?
Mimi
They split up before the second baby's due date in August 2024 and didn't reconcile. Then in February, during the court hearing, she admitted it was all a lie.
Luke
Did she say why?
Mimi
She claimed she was menopausal and couldn't have been pregnant. She also said she'd lied for revenge because she claimed he'd abused her.
Mark
But the abuse allegation was false too?
Luke
The court doesn't explicitly say that. It says he was arrested and held on remand, but it doesn't detail what happened with that charge.
Mimi
The judge described her behaviour as cruel and called it an "extraordinary" and "elaborate campaign of deceit."
Mark
What does the judge think her motive was?
Mimi
The judge said financial fraud was a possibility. But she also noted the woman had complex mental health problems, which may have played a part.
Luke
So we don't actually know why she did it.
Mimi
No. The ruling identifies it as a fact—it happened—but the why remains unclear.
The Pulse
- A man received ultrasound scans, infant photographs, and midnight voice notes of crying babies for two years — all fabricated, all designed to make him believe he was a father.
- He was arrested and held on remand for months after his former partner falsely reported him to police for assault, a move that coincided precisely with the supposed birth of the first child.
- Bank records placed the woman at a tanning salon on the very day she claimed to have given birth, directly contradicting her defence that menopause made conception impossible.
- A High Court judge has now formally concluded the children almost certainly never existed, describing the behaviour as a 'sustained and elaborate campaign of deceit' that caused psychological harm to the man, his mother, and his closest friend.
- No clean motive has been established — financial fraud, mental illness, or some entanglement of both may explain the deception, but the court could offer only documented harm, not a definitive answer.
Over two years, a man in the United Kingdom was drawn into an intricate fiction — believing himself a father, grieving, celebrating, and ultimately being arrested — while the children at the centre of it all almost certainly never existed. A UK High Court judge has now ruled that his former partner orchestrated a sustained campaign of deception, extracting £30,000 through fabricated pregnancies, forged evidence, and false allegations of abuse. The case sits at the uncomfortable intersection of psychological cruelty, possible financial predation, and the unresolved question of what drives a person to construct an entire human life — and then another — from nothing.
A man spent two years convinced he was a father. He sent money. He received ultrasound images and photographs of infants. His mother took late-night calls with the sound of a newborn audible in the background. When the first child's due date arrived in May 2023, his former partner — referred to in court documents as Jane — called the police and alleged assault. He was arrested. While he sat in custody, she sent his family messages announcing the birth, complete with photographs and voice notes of a crying baby.
Then she told him she was pregnant again. A second child, due in August 2024. The couple separated before that date, but she told his mother this child had been born too.
In February, before the High Court, the woman admitted there had been no pregnancies and no children. When asked how she could have appeared pregnant, she claimed to have been menopausal and incapable of conceiving. Bank records undermined her account: on the day she said she gave birth to the first child, she had visited a tanning salon.
Mrs Justice Judd, ruling on Friday, found the evidence that the children never existed to be overwhelming. She described the conduct as a 'sustained and elaborate campaign of deceit' and noted plainly that it had been cruel — leading a man and his mother to believe they had a child and grandchild who did not exist. Over the two years of the deception, approximately £30,000 had been extracted from him.
The court could not settle on a definitive motive. Financial gain was one possibility. The woman's documented mental health difficulties were another. What the ruling could confirm was the cost: a man wrongly arrested and held on remand for months, a family entangled in a fiction so carefully constructed that it required a High Court judgment to finally name it as one.
A man spent two years believing he was a father to two children who almost certainly never existed. Over that time, he gave his former partner approximately £30,000. He received ultrasound images, baby photographs, voice recordings of infants crying in the night. His mother received late-night calls with the sound of a newborn in the background. He was arrested and held on remand for several months after the woman told police he had assaulted her. None of it was real.
The woman, referred to as Jane in court documents, had told him in late 2022 that she was pregnant. As the months passed, she appeared visibly pregnant. She sent him ultrasound pictures. When May 2023 arrived and the first baby's due date approached, she called the police with allegations of assault. He was arrested. While he sat in custody, she sent a message to his stepfather announcing the birth and shared baby photographs. She told his mother the child had arrived, punctuating the news with voice notes captured in the middle of the night—the sound of a crying baby audible beneath her words.
Then she told him she was pregnant again. The second baby was due in August 2024. But before that date arrived, the couple separated and did not get back together. She told his mother this child had also been born.
In February, during a hearing in the High Court, the woman admitted she had lied. There were no pregnancies. There were no children. She conceded to an elaborate, sustained campaign of deception. When pressed on how she could have been pregnant, she claimed she was menopausal at the time and could not have conceived. Bank records told a different story: on the day she said she had given birth to the first child, she had visited a tanning salon.
Mrs Justice Judd, in a ruling published on Friday, examined the evidence methodically. The factors suggesting the children never existed were, she concluded, very strong—stronger than anything pointing the other way. The judge described the woman's behaviour as a "sustained and elaborate campaign of deceit" that rippled outward, affecting not only the man but also his mother and his closest friend. "Added to this, the behaviour was cruel," the judge wrote, "leading a man and his mother to believe they had children and grandchildren respectively."
The judge could not definitively establish why the woman had done this. Financial fraud was a possibility—she had extracted £30,000 over two years. But the woman also suffered from what the court heard were complex mental health problems, and those may have contributed to her actions. The ruling offered no clean explanation, only the documented fact of deception and its cost: a man arrested on false allegations, held in custody for months, his family drawn into a fiction so elaborate and sustained that it required a High Court judgment to untangle it from reality.
Notable Quotes
The behaviour was cruel, leading a man and his mother to believe they had children and grandchildren respectively.— Mrs Justice Judd, High Court ruling
The woman admitted she had lied about the pregnancies and that there were, in fact, no children.— Court hearing, February 2026
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