A woman who faked a pregnancy with twins had her partner celebrate at a gender reveal party before revealing that the non-existent babies had died, a court has heard.
Libby Vernon, 23, wore a silicone baby bump under her clothes to convince her long-distance boyfriend they were going to be parents. It was the second pregnancy she had falsified after previously telling him she was expecting a baby with an “abusive” ex-partner, but that the baby died just four days after it was born in 2023.
She claimed she wanted to raise that baby with her new partner, and sent him a picture of a newborn, captioned “someone wants to meet you”, before telling him the baby had stopped breathing and passed away after failed attempts at CPR. She even went to the extent of providing a death certificate, which gave the cause of death as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), Workington Magistrates’ Court heard.
Vernon later went on to claim she was expecting twin boys with her new boyfriend, convincing his family after throwing a gender reveal party in his Cumbria hometown. At one point, she told the victim she had a miscarriage, before suddenly revealing this was a misdiagnosis, and the supposed pregnancy continued.
However, she went to hospital after the party, telling the victim she had suffered another miscarriage, and medics had confirmed the babies were no longer alive, the Mirror reports.
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Her boyfriend went to the hospital, and discovered Vernon had not actually been to the maternity unit, and was wearing the fake bump, leaving him “significantly distressed”. Prosecutor Pamela Fee thanked the court for allowing extra time to review the charges against Vernon in what was described as a “complex” case. She said: “It’s something that we don’t come across all that often. It’s taken an awful lot of work.”
Defending Vernon, Mike Woolaghan told the court that no guidelines existed for any of the offences she had committed. He said: “There is a risk that matters cross the custody threshold. This lady has no convictions at all. It’s evident there is a lot more going on below the surface than appears. It’s right to say there are no formal diagnoses of mental health issues or something going on that needs to be explored.”
Vernon pleaded guilty to four charges of sending communication conveying false information, and five charges of sending false communication with intent to cause harm. She also admitted to one charge of sending a false certificate regarding registration of a birth or death.
She is expected to be sentenced on March 19, 2025, and was bailed with conditions not to enter Cumbria or contact the victim in any way.
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