Woman Used Fake Birth Claim to Smuggle Baby into UK
A woman living in West Yorkshire was arrested at Gatwick Airport last summer after returning from Nigeria with a baby girl – but DNA tests revealed she wasn’t the child’s mother.
The woman, referred to as “Susan”, had told her GP she was pregnant before flying to Nigeria in June 2024. Medical scans and blood tests in the UK, however, showed no pregnancy – only a tumour. Ignoring medical advice, Susan insisted she had a rare condition where pregnancies didn’t show up on scans.
Upon her return, she told UK doctors she had given birth abroad – but was arrested on suspicion of child trafficking when she arrived at the airport with a newborn baby girl, “Eleanor”.
DNA Tests Tell a Different Story
Authorities took swift action. DNA testing confirmed neither Susan nor her husband was genetically related to the baby. Even after a second test with the same results, Susan changed her story – now claiming the child was conceived via IVF with donor sperm and egg in Nigeria.
But when social worker Henrietta Coker, a seasoned expert in African child protection, investigated, the IVF clinic denied any record of Susan. The “birth hospital” turned out to be a filthy three-bedroom flat, staffed by teenage girls posing as nurses.
The doctor who had signed Susan’s supposed birth certificate admitted: “Yes, someone gave birth – but it wasn’t her.”
The Hidden Reality: Baby Farming
This case exposes a deeper, darker trend – what Ms. Coker calls “baby farming.” These are illegal Nigerian operations where women, often kidnapped and raped, are forced to give birth repeatedly, with the babies sold under the guise of adoptions or fertility miracles.
Evidence of a Deal
Incriminating messages were found on Susan’s phone to a contact labeled “Mum oft Lagos Baby”:
- “Good afternoon ma, I have not seen the hospital items.”,
- “Delivery drug is 3.4m. Hospital bill 170k.”
The court concluded this was a financial arrangement to buy a child. The judge declared both Susan and her husband had staged a fake birth, forged documents, and caused serious emotional harm to Eleanor.
Eleanor’s Fate
The Family Court ordered Eleanor to be placed for adoption and issued a declaration of non-parentage. Her biological roots remain unknown. She is now thriving in foster care, set to receive a new identity and British nationality.
Conclusion
The case of baby Eleanor is a violation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Every child has the right to preserve their identity, including nationality, name, and family relations, and to be protected from abduction, sale, or trafficking in any form. In Eleanor’s case, these rights were blatantly disregarded.
