She rigged scans and asked him to feel her stomach to 'touch their babies'

Mahon had told her ex-boyfriend she was pregnant with twins after he broke up with her

Childless Kelly Mahon, 41 (pictured), has pleaded guilty to snatching a two-month-old baby from a family home after telling her on-off partner she was pregnant

A woman who kidnapped a nine-week-old baby was trying to convince her on-off partner she had given birth to his child after staging a fake pregnancy.

Kelly Mahon, 41, snatched the two-month-old tot, who cannot be named for legal reasons, from his family home on February 24.

Her former partner Dwight Dennis, 35, said that Mahon had told him she was pregnant with twins two days after he ended their eight-year relationship last summer.

He said she then began to plot to kidnap a black or mixed race child.

Mahon even rigged two pregnancy tests and acquired two fake baby scans - before creating a nursery for the fabricated child in her home.

Mr Dennis, a lab technician, said: 'The lengths she went to were astonishing. She even kept asking me to feel her stomach to "touch our babies."'

He said that it was the second time Mahon had faked a pregnancy.

Mahon told Mr Dennis her due date was February 21.

Shrewsbury Crown Court heard yesterday that Mahon knocked on her victim's door on Februay 24 and told the mother that her husband has been in a road accident and was lying unconscious in the street.

Mahon, who had made contact with the mother before at a bus stop, then offered to look after the children while she went to find her injured partner.

But when the mother returned to her home in Arleston, Telford, Shropshire, after realising there was no accident, she was left 'hysterical' and 'beside herself' when she found her child had been abducted.

West Mercia Police launched an urgent hunt and the boy was found safe and well just hours later - and Mahon had rung Mr Dennis to tell him she had given birth.

Mr Dennis said he knew that it had been Mahon who had carried out the kidnapping as soon as he saw it on the news, reported The Sun.

He said: 'I almost passed out as I realised it must be Kelly. I just shouted out loud "My God, what have you done, Kelly?"'

Mr Dennis had asked Mahon what hospital ward she was on after she told him she had given birth, but she cut him off, and did not contact him again for three days - by which point she was in prison on remand.

When officers searched the home of Mahon they found a number of baby's items - including both boys and girls clothes.

A court heard she had 'deliberately sought out the victim' for the pre-planned kidnap and may have had further child victims in mind.

Mahon appeared at Shrewsbury Crown Court on Tuesday charged with kidnapping the baby 'by force or by fraud'.

Mahon, who wore a grey sweater and grey jogging bottoms, looked at members of the baby's family sitting in the public gallery as she entered the dock in handcuffs.

She spoke only to confirm her name and showed no emotion as she entered her plea during the 10 minute hearing.

She looked once more at the family as she was remanded in custody and led away by a security guard.

Judge Robin Onions ordered a psychiatric report be carried out prior to sentencing at the same court on May 12.

He told Mahon: 'I don't begin to understand what the parents have been through but clearly it's a very serious offence which has caused enormous upset.

'You should understand it's inevitable you will receive a custodial sentence of some length.'

Peter Cooper, defending, said: 'The guilty plea isn't entered on any basis.

Mahon told the mother her husband was lying injured in the road - and that she would look after the baby boy while the wife looked for him (pictured Mahon's home in Telford, Shropshire)

'But I would like to make clear she (Mahon) wasn't there at the family address the day before (the kidnapping).

'She had made a previous visit to the street and the plea is entered with the acceptance there was some planning.'

At a previous hearing at Telford Magistrates' Court on February 26, prosecutor Kelly Crowe said the defendant had been in previous contact with the victim's mother.

Describing the kidnap, she told the court: 'The child has been taken from the parent's home address where the defendant attended and reported that the husband had been in a road traffic accident and was lying unconscious.

'When she got to the location she finds her husband is not there and there is no road traffic accident.

'This defendant has said I will watch your children while you tend to your husband.

'When she (the mother) gets back the nine-week-old child is missing.

'This was a pre-planned kidnap.'

She then snatched the two-month-old tot, leaving the mother 'hysterical' and 'beside herself' - although the baby was found hours later at Mahon's home

She also told JPs how a 'to-do' list was found at Mahon's home which made reference to sterilisers, nappies and milk.

She added: 'So the inference is further children being kidnapped or other victims being targeted had this offence been committed.

'It seems that the victim's mother had made contact with this defendant previously, she describes in passing a significant conversation which takes place at the bus stop.

'Clearly she sought out the victim.'

Neighbours of the street where the victim was snatched from, told how the mum was left 'hysterical' and 'beside herself' after the child was taken.

One resident said: 'The mum was beside herself with worry. A stranger came in off the street and just took him. Just like that.

'You could hear them wailing afterwards. It was a noise I don't want to ever hear again. It was harrowing.