Nigerian woman loses custody after baby brought to UK found not biologically hers

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A Nigerian lady from West Yorkshire lost custody of a baby she brought to the UK after a British Family Court determined that she may have obtained the child illegally and had no biological tie to her.

In July 2024, the woman, who went by Susan, was detained at Gatwick Airport after arriving from Nigeria with Eleanor, a newborn girl.

Susan had told her doctor she was pregnant before the trip, but tests revealed a tumor that she refused to treat instead of any pregnancy symptoms.

According to the BBC, Susan stated that her pregnancies were invisible and that “my babies are always hidden.”

After visiting Nigeria in June, she informed UK medical professionals that she had given birth there. When she brought the infant back, social services and the police stepped in. There was no genetic connection between the child and Susan or her husband, according to DNA testing.

In response to more questions, Susan stated that she used donor sperm and egg in IVF to produce Eleanor before relocating to the UK in 2023.

She backed up her claim with paperwork and photographs, but Henrietta Coker, a skilled social worker, discovered they were fake.

Her treatment was not documented by the purported clinic. The hospital where she said she gave birth was a dilapidated apartment complex with young nurses working there. Susan wasn’t the person who gave birth there, but the doctor who signed the birth certificate acknowledged that someone had.

He informed the investigator, “People impersonation is common in this part of the world.”

Suspicions were heightened by messages on Susan’s phone. In one, she requested hospital supplies from a contact stored as “Mum oft Lagos Baby.” The response mentioned expenses for “hospital bill” and “delivery drugs,” implying a potential baby deal.

According to Judge Recorder William Tyler KC, Susan and her husband utilized fictitious paperwork, made up the narrative of Eleanor’s birth, and forced the child “significant emotional and psychological harm.”

He made a declaration of non-parentage and ordered Eleanor to be placed for adoption.

The child’s guardian, social worker Vikki Horspool, claimed that the pair “continued to be dishonest” about the baby’s origins. The court decided to adopt the child permanently, despite Susan’s attorneys’ pleas for the child’s return.

The real roots of Eleanor are yet unclear.

Similar cases involving newborns transported into the UK from West Africa are echoed in this case. Henrietta Coker, an expert, warned the court that baby trafficking is “widespread” throughout the global south and said she had worked on about a dozen cases of this nature since the pandemic.

Because of trafficking concerns, the UK has prohibited adoptions from Nigeria since 2021.

A representative for the Home Office stated: “Falsely claiming to be the parent of a child to facilitate entry to the UK is illegal.”

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