A Nigerian woman residing in West Yorkshire has been stripped of custody of a baby she brought into the United Kingdom after a family court ruled that she had no biological connection to the child and may have obtained the baby through questionable means.
Identified as Susan, the woman was detained at Gatwick Airport in July 2024 after arriving from Nigeria with an infant girl named Eleanor.
Prior to her trip, Susan reportedly informed her general practitioner in the UK that she was pregnant.
However, medical evaluations found no evidence of pregnancy, instead identifying a tumour, which she declined to treat.
She allegedly insisted that her pregnancies were always difficult to detect, claiming, “my babies are always hidden,” according to BBC reports.
She traveled to Nigeria in June and later informed UK medical staff that she had delivered a baby there.
Authorities became involved when she returned to the UK with Eleanor.
Subsequent DNA testing revealed that neither Susan nor her husband shared any genetic relationship with the baby.
Susan later claimed that Eleanor was conceived via IVF, using donor eggs and sperm, before she relocated to the UK in 2023.
She submitted documents and photographs to back her story, but child protection expert Henrietta Coker deemed the materials fraudulent.
The alleged fertility clinic had no records of her treatment, and the location where she said she gave birth turned out to be a dilapidated flat staffed by teenagers posing as medical personnel.
A doctor who signed the birth documentation acknowledged that someone had delivered a baby at the facility—but confirmed it was not Susan.
“It’s common for people to impersonate others in this region,” the doctor told investigators.
Investigators also uncovered troubling text messages on Susan’s phone. In one message to a contact saved as “Mum oft Lagos Baby,” she inquired about medical supplies.
The response included a list of costs for “delivery drugs” and a “hospital bill,” raising suspicions about a possible baby-for-sale arrangement.
Judge Recorder William Tyler KC, in his ruling, stated that Susan and her husband constructed a false narrative around Eleanor’s birth and submitted fake documents.
He added that their actions had caused the child “significant emotional and psychological harm.”
The court formally declared that neither Susan nor her husband were Eleanor’s legal parents and ruled that the child be placed for adoption.
Social worker Vikki Horspool, speaking on behalf of Eleanor’s guardian, said the couple continued to be evasive and dishonest regarding the child’s background.
Despite legal efforts by Susan’s representatives to regain custody, the court upheld the decision for permanent adoption.
Eleanor’s true origins remain uncertain.
The case mirrors similar incidents involving infants brought into the UK from West Africa.
Social worker Henrietta Coker, who testified in court, noted that she had dealt with over a dozen such cases since the COVID-19 pandemic and emphasized that child trafficking remains a serious issue across the Global South.
The UK government halted adoptions from Nigeria in 2021 over trafficking concerns.
A Home Office representative commented: “It is a criminal offense to falsely claim parentage of a child in an attempt to gain entry into the UK.”
