A woman convinced her ex-partner she had given birth to two children and sold them for £500 in revenge for ‘abusing’ her and her son, a High Court judge has said.

The man, who cannot be identified, applied to the court over the ‘elaborate campaign of deceit’ that lasted three years.

He believed that he had gone through the first pregnancy with his partner and felt her ‘pregnant’ stomach, he told the court.

The man, who is in his early 30s, never saw the children because he was arrested following allegations made by the woman after each birth.

She sent him photographs and an ultrasound image, Mrs Justice Judd said in a written ruling.

However, the woman told the judge she had lied about the pregnancies as an act of revenge, claiming the man had inflicted abuse on her and her son.

The woman, who is in her early 50s, said she was menopausal at the time and could not have been pregnant.

Bank statements also showed she attended a tanning shop on the day she said she had given birth.

The woman later said a voice message she had sent to the man’s mother which featured a crying baby had been made by playing a YouTube video in the background.

In the ruling from February, which was published on Friday, Mrs Justice Judd said it was most likely the children did not exist.

The man said that in late 2022 his partner told him she was pregnant and said she became ‘visibly pregnant’ as time went on.

In May 2023, when the first baby was due, the couple had an argument and she called the police alleging he had assaulted her. The man was then arrested and held on remand for several months.

The woman sent a message to his stepfather saying the baby had been born. She additionally sent the man photographs and regular messages about the child.

Mrs Justice Judd said: ‘When the applicant was released from prison the relationship resumed, but he says the respondent told him the baby was with a family member.

‘She said the local authority had said he was not permitted to see her, but she did show him lots of pictures of the baby.’

She then informed him she was pregnant again and the baby was due in August 2024, but that month they split and did not reconcile.

She subsequently told his mother the second baby had been born.

At some point she told the man she had sold the children, prompting the man to apply to the court. The woman however told Mrs Justice Judd the children did not exist, the judge said.

The woman said she had always been a larger lady with a sizeable stomach.

Mrs Justice Judd said there was no evidence of births on the woman’s phone and no records by local authority or police.

The judge said the case had left her with two ‘extremely unlikely’ and ‘bizarre scenarios’, but it was most likely the woman had ‘engaged in a campaign of deception lasting for about three years in order to make the applicant believe that he was going to be, then was, the father of children.’

The judge said: ‘The behaviour was cruel, leading a man and his mother to believe they had children and grandchildren respectively.’