She was released from jail today after serving 23 days behind bars

Released: Wilson was freed at Cardiff Crown Court today after serving 23 days of a 16-week jail sentence that was handed to her last month

A besotted nurse tricked a man into believing that he had fathered a child with her during a one-night stand.

Charmaine Wilson, 25, borrowed a friend’s toddler who she passed off as her own.

She used her hospital role to fake DNA test results and even forged a birth certificate to convince Liam Griffiths the boy was his. Mr Griffiths and his family lavished her and the child with gifts.

He did not discover the deception until months later, when he posted pictures of himself with his ‘son’ on Facebook.

But yesterday a judge took pity on Wilson, freeing her from a jail sentence imposed last month. Instead she was ordered to go on a ‘thinking skills’ course.

Wilson and Mr Griffiths met on a drunken night out in 2012. They had sex but afterwards he said he did not want to see her again.

Unwilling to accept this, she first lied to him that she had become pregnant but had had an abortion.

Despite his refusal to maintain contact, Wilson persisted and Mr Griffiths eventually had to change his phone number and block her on social media.

But in December last year, Mr Griffiths and his mother visited his dying grandfather at The Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend, South Wales, where Wilson worked. She approached Mr Griffiths with the toddler in her arms and announced the boy was his.

When he demanded proof, she faked a birth certificate and DNA test. Unaware of the deception, Mr Griffiths developed a deep emotional bond with the baby he believed was his.

Wilson’s plot was so convincing that his family gave her and the child gifts – including a new car.

Mr Griffiths, 31, had even planned to build a home in his parents’ garden to support Wilson and the boy. But he was left heartbroken when the nurse’s grand lie unravelled in May.

A doting Mr Griffiths posted a picture of himself with the boy on Facebook, only for a relative of the two-year-old’s real parents to reveal the truth – that Wilson had been borrowing the baby from an unwitting friend.

When she was arrested, Wilson told police: ‘It was a lie that snowballed out of control and I did not know how to stop it.’

Obsessed: Charmaine Wilson, 25, used a friend's baby to convince Liam Griffiths of her deception

Wilson was jailed for 16 weeks last month after admitting two counts of fraud realting to the birth certificate and DNA test.

Her solicitor told Brigend magistrates that ‘she felt she had a connection with Mr Griffiths and wanted to be with him’.

At the time Mr Griffiths said: ‘I am devastated and heartbroken to have lost a child that I thought was my son and had bonded with this child. Everything I see now reminds me of the child and what I have lost.’

His mother Catherine Thomas, 54, said: ‘I feel we have had a family bereavement having lost a child that I honestly thought was my grandson. I cannot think of words to say about how awful it is that a human being could deceive another in this way and cause the hurt and upset it has done to our family.’

Obsessed: Charmaine Wilson, 25, abused her position as a nurse to forge a birth certificate and DNA test

But after serving only 23 days in jail, Wilson won an appeal at Cardiff Crown Court yesterday to have her sentence reduced.

Instead, Judge David Wynn Morgan sent her on a ‘thinking skills’ programme to help her realise how her appalling behaviour had affected Mr Griffiths and his family.

He criticised Wilson’s ‘immature and self-centred attitude’, adding: ‘The discovery of the child’s real identity has left them with a feeling of loss similar to bereavement.

‘You failed to recognise the emotional impact of your forgery – your own hurt feelings took priority in your mind. After the totally wicked thing you have done, no one feels sorry for you.’

Judge Wynn Morgan replaced the 16-week jail term with a 32-week sentence suspended for two years, conditional on Wilson, who has been suspended from her job at the hospital, completing the victim awareness course.

Heartbroken: Wilson, who pleaded guilty to two counts of forgery, said that her lie had snowballed out of control and that she didn't know how to stop it. She maintained the con for six months