A couple, who could not have children, have been told by a United Kingdom High Court they can keep a baby born in Nigeria, despite tests showing they were not the child’s biological parents.
The mother said she was tricked by a doctor into believing she had given birth while sedated, after she went to Nigeria for fertility treatment, BBC reports.
The local authority had claimed the couple’s story was a “charade.”
But the judge ruled they were victims of an “appalling scam.”
The presiding judge Mr Justice Coleridge added the case was “extraordinary, bizarre and worrying.”
Charities meanwhile have raised concerns about the judgement, warning it may encourage trafficking.
At the High Court on Thursday, Mr Justice Coleridge ruled that the pair, who he described as people of the “highest calibre”, should be given custody of the girl who is nearly two years old.
The couple – who live in London but cannot be named for legal reasons – failed to conceive a child despite undergoing IVF treatment in the UK.
They were said to be “desperate and distressed.”
In 2010, the couple travelled to Nigeria where the woman received fertility treatment at a private clinic.
