Seaforth woman who faked DNA paternity test jailed

A woman from Merseyside who pretended a former partner was her baby's dad by faking a paternity test has been jailed for 12 months

Liverpool Crown Court heard Danielle Morris, 29, from Seaforth 'sold her child to make money' who had treated the little girl like her daughter

Jailing Morris, a judge told her that the distress she had caused Jamie Somers - a Michael Bublé impersonator - was “incalculable” .

Judge Robert Trevor-Jones said that despite her having no previous convictions and having the pressures of being a single mum “nothing can justify what you took up and perpetuated.”

He said, “You knew what the true facts were and you maintained this deceit for eight or nine months, playing with peoples’ emotions.The victim impact statement show quite how traumatised Mr Somers has been and with ripples out to his family.”

The court heard heard that Morris had initially told Mr Somers that he was not the father of the baby but later got in touch to say that he was and went on to forge a false DNA report to confirm that lie.

She admitted the two fraud offences at an earlier hearing

Keith Sutton, prosecuting, said that the couple met in November 2013 through his role as a Michael Bubble impersonator and met again on about four occasions but then did not see each other again for some time.

In May 2014 she sent him a message saying she was pregnant but he was not the father.

He offered to get a DNA test but she declined the offer. The baby was born on August 17 that year.

A year later, year Morris got back in touch saying that there were two men who could be the father and implied it was Mr Somers.

He offered to pay for a DNA test and gave her the money for it. When he pressed her she pretended to ring the doctor and then said the courier had lost the sample so he provided another swab.

Mr Sutton said that she later got in touch saying that it showed he was the dad, and as a result, Somers decided he wanted to play a part in the little girl's life.

He initially gave her cash but on advice then started paying by bank transfers and by the time her deceit came to light had paid out £1,090.

He kept asking Morris for a copy of the DNA certificate but she kept coming up with various excuses and it was only after he threatened to stop paying maintenance that in December 2015 she gave him a copy. It came form Alpha Bio Labs and showed it 99.9% that he was the father.

In May last year he and Morris went to the register office and he was put on the birth certificate as the father. He had Darcy christened and asked people not to provide gifts but donate money to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. “She complained the money should have gone to her and the child.”

After studying the DNA report in August last year Mr Somers contacted the Alpha Bio Lab for more information and discovered it did not relate to him and what he had been shown was a forgery.

It also showed that the other man whom Morris initially said could be the dad was not the father either

Mr Somers, 41, paid for another DNA test, which confirmed she was not his daughter leaving him and his parents devastated.

In an impact statement Mr Somers said he had been deceived in “the most cruel way imaginable. She made me a daddy and made my parents grandparents. She has shattered us with her lies. She sold her child to make money.”

“All along she knew and was scheming.” He said that he “loved and adored” Darcy, who he no longer sees, and the situation had nearly caused him and his fiancee to split up.

“She exploited us for financial gain and gave here (Darcy) to a virtual stranger. She has ruined my elderly parents dreams for me."