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A mother from Derby fraudulently tried to change her daughter’s birth certificate so the natural father’s name did not appear on it.

Derby Crown Court heard how the Alvaston woman went to Derby Register Office, in Tenant Street, and filled in a form to change the youngster’s surname so it carried the name of her new partner.

On it, she put her new boyfriend down as the birth father, but two years later the fraud was uncovered and the police were contacted.

The name of the child is protected by law so the only way the full story can be told is to keep the mother’s identity undisclosed.

But handing the woman a 12-month conditional discharge, Judge Shaun Smith QC said: “You did something really stupid and you did it because you thought it was in the best interests of your daughter.

“But it is the feelings of the birth father that are really hurt here.

“This was doomed from the very beginning and the reality is that you have learned your lesson.”

Lucy Jones, prosecuting, said the baby was born in 2011 and that when her birth was registered she was given the mother’s surname but the birth partner’s name was on the certificate.

The couple split and the woman found a new partner with whom she now has another child.

Miss Jones aid: “In June 2016 a change of details form was filled out by the defendant at Derby register office.

“The defendant wanted her first child to carry the same surname as her more recent child.”

Judge Smith said: “Basically the form showed the name of the new partner as the father of the first child which is not true.”

Miss Jones replied: “That’s correct and on the forms and on posters in the register office it makes it clear that it is an offence to knowingly fill put false details on a form.”

The woman, who is in full-time employment in a job where she is “respected,” pleaded guilty to one count of willingly giving false information relating to the birth of a child.

Judge Smith said: “It is not going to affect the birth father’s life because he already has parental control before she went on her escapade.

“Although he is angry about what happened, the reality is that anything that is ongoing (between them) in the family courts is nothing to do with a change of name.”