A devastated man has revealed how he'll 'never get over' discovering the son he loved didn't really exist, after his ex pretended her friend's little boy was his child in an act of revenge.

Tracey Hardy, from Macclesfield, told her ex John she was pregnant and then claimed a friend's child was her own for five years to trick him into paying child maintenance after he dumped her in a text message.

John formed a close bond with Tyler, five, who he saw regularly and spent £15,000 on maintenance and legal fees for custody battles, but when he hadn't seen his son for two years he reported him missing to the police in 2017.

The story unfolded in BBC One's Reported Missing, which aired last night, which saw cameras follow police as they pieced together the clues about what happened to Tyler.

When he found out the news John was heartbroken, explaining: 'It's probably the worst thing I've ever had to go through in my life.'

Hardy pleaded guilty to fraud and perverting course of justice and was sentenced to two years in prison in April this year.

Tracey Hardy, from Macclesfield (left) lied to her ex boyfriend John that they'd had a child together called Tyler, five, who is pictured on John's knee. Both their identities were hidden for the BBC show Reported Missing

At first police suspected that the child had been murdered or kidnapped or that John was delusional, as Hardy denied ever having a son.

But when they spoke with Hardy's teenage daughter they discovered that the boy who John had gotten to know was actually a the son of a family friend, and Hardy had been passing him off as their own.

When police finally got to the bottom of what happened Hardy admitted that it had been out of revenge for when John texted her to end their relationship when she thought she was pregnant.

Despite later realising that she wasn't expecting, Hardy kept up the lie in order to get revenge and ultimately money out of her ex.

Tracey pleaded guilty to fraud and perverting course of justice and was sentenced to two years in prison in April this year. Pictured: Tracey at the police station last year

John, who wanted his identity hidden, said he would 'never get over' the loss of a child that was never his. He had contacted the police when he didn't see Tyler for two years and couldn't get in touch with Tracey. Pictured: John in an interview for the documentary with his face hidden

John, whose identity is kept hidden in the documentary, revealed he'll never get over the betrayal.

'I can't really describe it and if I do describe it I'm sort of reliving that emotion and I never want to do that again so I cant really describe how devastating it was,' he said.

'It's a completely horrible feeling. I still see his little face sometimes in my memory and that sort of brings me down a little bit.

'My only way round it is to not think about it at all and I never wanted to stop thinking about it, but that's unfortunately what I've got to do.'

Initially Tracey denied having a son but blamed John for making it all up. When her daughter revealed that the boy in the photos was a family friend's son Tracey revealed it had all been a cruel trick. Pictured: John and Tyler with their identities hidden

John had seen Hardy when she claimed to be heavily pregnant with Tyler, and shortly after she and called him up claiming to have given birth the day before.

He first saw his supposed son when the boy was 10 weeks old and he became instantly attached, seeing him regularly.

Despite him spending thousands to fight for custody, Hardy cut off all contact with John in 2015.

After two years of not seeing his son, he decided to call the police in 2017 and report him missing.

John had spent £15,000 on child support and court fees on Tyler and had seen him every other week for the first three years of his life. Pictured: Tracey and Tyler

Police searched for Tyler through social services who had no record of the little boy, and were told by Hardy's neighbours they'd never seen a child going into her house.

When they confronted Hardy at work she told them they had the wrong woman as she'd never heard of Tyler or John and then later she denied all knowledge a second time when asked again.

Later Hardy admitted that she did know John, but insisted he was making up the child's existence.

After a search of Hardy's house they found no sign that a child was living there and she continued to deny being a mother to the little boy.

Tracey (pictured) claimed that it had all gotten out of hand and she was genuinely remorseful for what she'd done to John, which she did because he broke up with her over text

Tracey (pictured in the police station after being arrested) had pretended to be pregnant andt then called John up a few months later claiming to have given birth the day before

Eventually they managed to track down Hardy's 16-year-old daughter who identified the child in John's photos as the child of a family friend that Hardy used to look after.

When they got in touch with the family friend - who didn't want to be identified - they confirmed that Hardy had spent time with their son.

She'd offered to take the little boy out, and because they'd know her over 20 years they agreed.

Hardy finally confessed to the police saying it had started as a petty act of revenge that then spiralled out of control.

She said: 'It started off as a little lie and it got bigger and bigger and bigger, and it got to the point where I thought 'I've got to stop this its not fair''. I felt pressure to tell him. But I couldn't, it would break his heart.

John said he will 'never get over' having his son taken away from him and wrote a letter to the boy's real parents with his contact details hoping they'd get in touch. Pictured: Tracey and Tyler with his identity hidden

'It was my fault for putting him in that position in the first place. To be perfectly honest I'm glad that it's over. I am, even though I know it's serious, I'm glad it's over. I realise what I've done to him, and I do feel guilty, I know he'll hate me forever and rightly so.'

John later realised there were signs that Tyler wasn't who Hardy claimed he was, and once referred to himself by his real name.

He has kept an old bottle his son would drink out of and the shoe box that once contained his first pair of shoes, as he admits he'll never get over the loss.

He wrote a letter to the little boy's real parents with a phone number in hopes that he'll hear from them one day.

John wrote to them: 'I need to tell you how much light and joy he brought into my family, my life and outlook on life. We loved him and we still love him.

'It has been the biggest shock of my life finding out that he was not my son I can't describe how devastated I was and I don’t think I’ll ever get over this. You must be smashing parents to have such a smashing boy.'