A woman living in West Yorkshire told her doctor she was pregnant before leaving for Nigeria and returning with a very young baby girl.
However, it was later proved that she lied to her doctor and the baby was not hers.
The woman was arrested at Gatwick Airport last June on suspicion of trafficking.
The case was heard in the Family Court with experts saying there was a worrying trend of babies possibly being brought to the UK unlawfully - some from so called Nigerian "baby factories".
The woman had been living in England with her husband and children, since June 2022.
The court heard she was a careworker who had leave to remain in the UK when she claimed she was pregnant.
However, scans and blood tests refuted her claim.
It was found that she did have a tumour, which doctors thought could be cancerous, but the woman refused treatment.
PA | Leeds Magistrates Court
The woman claimed to her employer that "my babies are always hidden" in scans.
She also said she had been pregnant for up to 30 months with her other children.
The careworker said she wanted to have her baby in Nigeria and travelled there in early June 2024, before then calling her hospital in Britain, explaining that she had given birth.
It prompted concerned doctors to contact children's services.
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|The baby was put up for adoption by the court
After arriving back in the UK with the baby girl, the woman was stopped and arrested by Sussex Police.
She was granted bail and the police force confirmed there was no active investigation at the moment.
The woman, her husband and the baby were given DNA tests before the baby was taken to foster carers.
"When the results show that I am Eleanor's mother, I want her to be returned immediately," the woman said.
The tests revealed the baby had no genetic link to the woman or her husband, prompting her to demand a second test.
It gave the same result, resulting in the woman giving a different narrative.
She claimed she had IVF treatment before moving to Britain in 2023 with a donor egg and sperm.
The woman provided a signed letter by a medical director at a Nigerian hospital, explaining that she had given birth there. It also included a document from another clinic relating to the supposed IVF treatment.
She provided photos and videos which claimed to show her in the Nigerian hospital's labour suite, however, no face was visible.
The Family Court in Leeds sent Henrietta Coker to investigate.
Coker had experience in Britain before moving to Africa and she was tasked with visiting the medical centre where the woman claimed to have had the IVF done.
It was revealed that there was no record of any treatment and the letter had been forged.
After visiting the place where the woman claimed to have given birth, Coker found it was a three bedroom flat with "stained" walls and "dirty" carpets.
After meeting "three young teenage girls... with nurses' uniforms on" she was introduced to the doctor who revealed "someone had given birth" but it wasn't the woman.
Coker told the court the practice of "baby farming" was well known in West Africa, but it wasn't clear where the baby had come from.