A British couple – Simon and Gladys Heap from Oxford – have been convicted by a UK court for attempting to pass off a Nigerian baby as their biological child in a bid to smuggle it into the UK.
The couple was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for 12 months, and 250 hours of community service after pleading guilty on April 16, 2013.
Gladys aged 52 and her husband, 47, had entered Nigeria in July 2010 and had gone to the British High Commission in Lagos to apply for a British passport for the baby girl claiming Gladys had a baby just a few days after entering the country.
According to the British High Commission in Abuja, the staff at the High Commission were however suspicious.
“…DNA tests later confirmed that neither adult was related to the child. A birth certificate they had presented was also found to be fraudulent. They flew home without the baby,” the statement issued in Abuja yesterday said.
Although the statement was silent on how the couple came about the child, it implied that the child may have been purchased.
Following an investigation by a joint Border Force and Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), the couple was arrested and charged with facilitating a breach of immigration law. They were sentenced by the Isleworth Crown Court.