Mother avoids jail after fake paternity test tricked her ex

A woman who faked the results of a paternity test to trick her former partner into thinking he was the father of her child has avoided being sentenced to jail.

- ELEANOR BARLOW

Yesterday, Liverpool Crown Court heard that Beth Fernley, 26, told Ryan Hampson she was pregnant in April 2019. She said she was unsure about who the baby’s father was.

Prosecutor Gareth Roberts said Fernley asked Mr Hampson for £300 towards a DNA test for her unborn baby. She later sent him screenshots, which she claimed were from the company EasyDNA, that showed there was a 99.9 per cent probability that he was the baby’s 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 in March.

Sentencing her, the honorary recorder of Liverpool, 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.”