Mother conned ex into thinking he was her child's father for 13 YEARS (and swindled him out of £50,000 for presents and private education)



A mother who conned a former lover into thinking he was the father of her daughter for more than 13 years has been jailed .

The 47-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, swindled him out of at least £48,700 which went on private education and expensive gifts.

She admitted 15 offences of deception when she appeared at Caernarfon Crown Court, in north Wales, yesterday.



And despite a plea for leniency from her daughter, the judge told her he had no choice but to jail her for 20 months.

The woman, who can't be named, was sentenced to 20 months in prison for the fraud at the trial at Caernarfon crown court

Sentencing, Mr Recorder Duncan Bould, said: 'The tentacles of your deception have spread emotionally far and wide. The plea by your daughter to avoid sending you to prison is heart-rending and one can understand why she makes it.

'But the court must perform a public duty to punish those who behave in this seriously criminally wrong way as you have done to a large scale over a lengthy period.



'I don’t feel I can properly accede to those pleas put forward for leniency to avoid an immediate custodial sentence.'



The judge said the mother, who is from from Conwy county, had observed 'all these tragedies evolving - she must bear a very heavy responsibility for that.'



Prosecuting counsel Wyn Lloyd Jones said the victim and defendant had met in the 1990s. Weeks after their relationship ended, the woman rang him and they met at her parents’ home. She told him she was pregnant and lied that he was the father of the unborn child.

The man spent three days with her in hospital, awaiting the birth. 'He thought he had a daughter and immediately began to treat her as such. His family treated her as such. The real father was kept out of the picture,' the prosecutor said.



Soon after the birth the man formed a relationship with another woman who became his wife and they had children. 'The fraud that took place over the years deprived him and his family of a huge amount of money which otherwise they would have been able to enjoy,' counsel remarked.



He paid nursery and school fees, medical expenses and the mum’s £3,000 credit card debt. 'There were times when he struggled to pay. He had to work long hours to make ends meet,' Mr Lloyd Jones explained.

The 47-year-old woman from Conwy county in North Wales admitted 15 deception offences

It wasn’t until 2008 that two mutual friends, one knowing the truth since before the birth, told the victim. 'Perhaps not surprisingly he felt shocked and numb,' the barrister said.



One of the friends had witnessed the defendant and her sister arguing when she was pregnant - the sister wanting the victim to be told he wasn’t the real dad.



The defendant had told the pal that the man had money and could support the child. 'She had been to a private school, she wanted the child to have the same.' She also wanted expensive presents for the girl, now 13, to keep up with school friends.



After the bombshell, DNA testing was ordered by a court. Mr Lloyd Jones said : 'He’s clearly been through a great deal including dealing with a very serious false allegation made by this defendant to the police.'



Elen Owen, defending, said her client had large debts and was in no position to repay the money. The fraud wasn’t financially motivated, she said.



Asked by the judge for the reason it occurred, counsel replied: 'Because she was on a rollercoaster and there was no right time to tell somebody who thought he was the father of the child. She was in an almost impossible position so far as coming clean,' counsel added.



The girl can’t be identified.



The victim, a middle-aged man, sat in court. But afterwards he declined to comment as he left with his wife.





