A woman who forged paternity test results and lied to her ex-partner about him being the father of her child has avoided a prison sentence.
Beth Fernley, 26, told Ryan Hampson in April 2019 she was pregnant and was unsure about who the baby’s father was, Liverpool Crown Court heard on Tuesday.
Gareth Roberts, prosecuting, told the court she had asked Mr Hampson for £300 towards a DNA test and then sent him screenshots which she claimed were from company EasyDNA and showed there was a 99.9% probability he was the father.
Mr Roberts said the documents were later confirmed to have been forged.
Fernley, of Wroxham Road in Warrington, pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation at a hearing last month.
Sentencing her, Recorder of Liverpool Judge Andrew Menary said: “This was a particularly dreadful offence which has had a profound effect on many people including, most particularly, Mr Hampson himself and also members of his extended family.”
He added: “Whether it began out of some sort of apprehension because you found yourself pregnant with somebody who wasn’t your partner or because you were keen to create some sort of perfect family it is hard for me to understand.”
He said when police became involved she continued to deny she had lied in a “perpetuation of sinister dishonesty”.
Giving her a sentence of 13 months, suspended for 18 months, the judge said: “You could not have complained today if I had sent you immediately to prison.”
Mr Roberts said after he was shown the forged DNA results, Mr Hampson bought items for the unborn baby and resumed a relationship with Fernley, who he had been with for four years before they broke up in early 2019.
He was at the baby’s birth, named on the birth certificate and bought a house with Fernley in 2020.
She later forged another letter which claimed the company had made a mistake and he was not the father, the court heard.
When Mr Hampson contacted the firm he was told they had no record of the tests.
He contacted police in July 2022 and Fernley was arrested, Mr Roberts said.
Reading a statement to the court, Mr Hampson, 27, said he had felt “profound grief, confusion and heartbreak” after learning the child, who he had “formed a strong bond” with, was not his.
He said: “My entire world fell apart.
“The emotional pain of people asking me about my daughter is unbearable and it brings waves of grief and sadness back that I can’t control.”
Tom Worsfold, defending, said Fernley had shown insight into the impact of her crime.
He said: “She has demonstrated she accepts it was wrong of her, in her own words, to play God.”
The defendant, who wore an olive green blazer and grey dress, wiped away a tear at one point during the hearing but showed no other reaction as she was sentenced.
Fernley was ordered to undertake 10 days of rehabilitation activity and do 200 hours of unpaid work.
She was also ordered to pay compensation of £300 and a statutory surcharge.
