Woman who duped boyfriend into believing she was pregnant with twins using fake baby bump jailed
19 March 2025, 21:42 | Updated: 19 March 2025, 23:04
A woman who wore a fake 'baby' bump and false medical records to con a man she met online into believing she was pregnant with twins has been jailed.
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Libby Vernon's twisted web of lies have come back to bite her.
The 23-year-old's 13-month ruse saw her string along a man she met online, speaking for for hours on a first night video call through social media app Yubo.
But Vernon had been using a fake Facebook account, and that was just the first scam in a series of twisted tricks.
Vernon, from Warrington, who lived in Werrington in Staffordshire, began a long-relationship with the Cumbria-based man, a court heard.
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They eventually met in person and in November 2023, with Vernon later sending the man pretend baby photos saying 'someone to meet you'.
He grew sceptical when requests to meet the 'baby' were denied, the court was told.
Vernon later faked that the 'baby' had stopped breathing, dying of sudden infant death syndrome, according to the Mailonline.
She then sent a a fake death certificate image to the 'devastated' man.
The con artist then told the duped man she had become pregnant again - this time with twins.
Once again, the sick trickster knocked up fake images. These ones showed bleeding and an ultrasound of twins, the court heard.
Prosecutor Pamela Fee told the court: 'Vernon said at the scan she asked for the babies' genders to be put into envelope so they could do a gender reveal together.
'Confetti-filled balloons were burst by the couple in front of the victims' family and revealed Vernon was carrying twin boys.'
But Vernon was eventually rumbled when the man's his relatives suggested her 'baby bump' didn't look right during a family event, according to Ms Fee said.
Then in June 2024, he arrived at a hospital and persuaded maternity staff to perform a scan.
'Vernon was not pregnant and it was found that she was wearing a fake baby bump,' said Ms Fee.
The man said his family's lives being 'torn apart' following the brutal con.
He said of the fake twins: 'I know they were never real, but they are to me. They felt it to me and it's like I lost them.
'None of it makes sense and I don't think I'll ever fully get my head around it.'
Vernon admitted to four of sending texts and one involving a photograph which conveyed false information, one of count of sending a false death certificate and four of sending a false communication with intent to cause harm.
She will serve out an immediate six-month jail term and a two-year restraining order.
