BBCLast summer, a woman was arrested at Gatwick Airport after she arrived from Nigeria with a very young baby girl.The woman had been living in West Yorkshire with her husband and children, and before leaving the UK for Africa had told her GP she was pregnant.That was not true.When the woman returned about a month later with the baby, she was arrested on suspicion of trafficking.The case, the second the BBC has followed through the Family Court in recent months, reveals what experts say is a worrying trend of babies possibly being brought to the UK unlawfully – some from so-called “baby factories” in Nigeria Last summer, a woman was arrested at Gatwick Airport after she arrived from Nigeria with a very young baby girl The woman had been living in West Yorkshire with her husband and children, and before leaving the UK for Africa had told her GP she was pregnant When the woman returned about a month later with the baby, she was arrested on suspicion of trafficking
The case, the second the BBC has followed through the Family Court in recent months, reveals what experts say is a worrying trend of babies possibly being brought to the UK unlawfully – some from so-called “baby factories” in Nigeria ‘My babies are always hidden’
The woman, who we are calling Susan, is Nigerian, but had been living in England since June 2023, with her husband and children.A careworker with leave to remain in Britain, Susan claimed she was pregnant But scans and blood tests showed that wasn’t true Instead, they revealed Susan had a tumour, which doctors feared could be cancerous
But she refused treatment.Susan insisted her previous pregnancies had been invisible on scans, telling her employer, “my babies are always hidden” She also claimed she’d been pregnant for up to 30 months with her other children.Susan had travelled to Nigeria in early June 2024, saying she wanted to have her baby there, and then contacted her local hospital in Britain, to say she had given birth.Doctors were concerned and contacted children’s services.Arriving back in the UK with the baby girl – who we’re calling Eleanor – Susan was stopped and arrested by Sussex Police.She was bailed and the lead police force on this confirmed there is no active investigation at the moment.After her arrest, Susan, her husband, and Eleanor were given DNA tests Eleanor was taken to foster carers.“When the results show that I am Eleanor’s mother, I want her to be returned immediately,” Susan said.But the tests showed the baby had no genetic link with Susan or her husband Susan demanded a second test – which gave the same result, and then she changed her story.She’d had IVF treatment before moving to Britain in 2023 with a donor egg and sperm, she said, and that’s why the DNA tests were negative.Susan provided a letter from a Nigerian hospital, signed by the medical director, saying she’d given birth there, as well as a document from another clinic about the IVF treatment to back up her claims.She also provided photos and videos which she said showed her in the Nigerian hospital’s labour suite
No face is visible in the images and one showed a naked woman with a placenta between her legs, with an umbilical cord still attached to it The woman, who we are calling Susan, is Nigerian, but had been living in England since June 2023, with her husband and children A careworker with leave to remain in Britain, Susan claimed she was pregnant But scans and blood tests showed that wasn’t true
Instead, they revealed Susan had a tumour, which doctors feared could be cancerous But she refused treatment Susan insisted her previous pregnancies had been invisible on scans, telling her employer, “my babies are always hidden” She also claimed she’d been pregnant for up to 30 months with her other children
Susan had travelled to Nigeria in early June 2024, saying she wanted to have her baby there, and then contacted her local hospital in Britain, to say she had given birth Doctors were concerned and contacted children’s services Arriving back in the UK with the baby girl – who we’re calling Eleanor – Susan was stopped and arrested by Sussex Police She was bailed and the lead police force on this confirmed there is no active investigation at the moment
After her arrest, Susan, her husband, and Eleanor were given DNA tests Eleanor was taken to foster carers Source: NewZimbabwe
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Source: Newzimbabwe
