A woman wore a fake baby bump and burst balloons at a gender reveal party with a partner who was devastated to learn she lied about two pregnancies and a miscarriage.
Libby Vernon, 23, spun a web of cruel lies over the course of 13 months while duping a man she met online.
Vernon and the Cumbria-based man spoke for hours on a first night video call through the Yubo platform.
She looked pregnant, Pamela Fee told Workington Magistrates’ Court, and informed the man she was expecting twins to an abusive ex-partner.
Vernon also claimed she was partner of a nursery business and owned her own home with a mortgage. “None of that was true,” said Miss Fee.
They began a long distance relationship with the plan being to move in together, the man helping to raise the children.
During the first three months, Vernon said she had lost one twin but claimed to have a rare condition with two uteruses.
She later provided a fake NHS branded later apparently confirming the miscarriage. “They discussed the loss and grieved together and she told the victim the other baby was healthy,” said Miss Fee.
Vernon set up a fake Facebook account and sent messages to the man, purporting to be from her ex, which were unpleasant about her and made veiled threats.
After she and the Cumbria-based man met in person, they went to the Trafford Centre in Manchester, where she displayed signs of being pregnant and struggled to walk on a hot day.
In November, 2023, Vernon sent the man fake baby photos saying “someone to meet you”. That baby was named Athena, given the man’s surname.
He became suspicious when requests to meet the baby were rebuffed.
After suddenly leaving a panicked video call, Vernon pretended the baby had stopped breathing and died of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
“I was devastated,” said the man, who was sent a fake death certificate image.
After their relationship continued and became sexual, Vernon again told the man she was pregnant. She mailed him a babygrow in the post and announced they were expecting twins.
She sent him a fake images of bleeding, ultrasound pictures showing twins and then spoke of being scanned.
“Vernon said at the scan she asked for the babies’ genders to be put into envelope so they could do a gender reveal together,” said Miss Fee.
“That took place on April 16 2024. Confetti-filled balloons were burst by the couple in front of the victims’ family and revealed Vernon was carrying twin boys.” They named the boys Ollie and Tommy.
All scans took place out of Cumbria and the man was not allowed by Vernon to attend. Relatives of the man suggested her baby bump didn’t look right when she attended his birthday celebrations.
Amid her apparent concerns over the twins’ lack of heartbeats, in June, 2024, he met her at a hospital for a planned scan. Despite Vernon’s reluctance, the man persuaded maternity staff to perform a scan.
“Vernon was not pregnant and it was found that she was wearing a fake baby bump. Everything she had told him was lies,” said Miss Fee.
“There were no babies. Scan photos were false, letters were false and everything she told him about being pregnant and carrying his children was a lie.“
Describing the impact on him, Miss Fee said: “He believed he was going to be a father to a baby girl and then twin boy. They had blankets made with the boys’ names on them and Vernon even had a plaque made up for the victim showing “daddy’s dream team”.
“This depicted football shirts and bore the names of Tommy, Ollie and Athena — “Athena’s shirt having angel wings and a halo above it” added the prosecutor.
Vernon had ordered a fake belly from ebay and said falsely her mum had cancer.
The man spoke of his family’s lives being torn apart, and had said of the babies: “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, of Moss Park Avenue, Werrington, near Stoke-on-Trent, admitted a total of 10 charges.
These were four counts of sending texts and one involving a photograph which conveyed false information; one of sending a false death certificate; and four of sending a false communication with intent to cause harm.
Mike Woolaghan, mitigating, admitted the obvious question is why Vernon acted as she did. “She struggled to understand the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of what she has done, he said.
Vernon had described being young and scared, the court heard, latterly expressing remorse to a probation officer, and apologising to the man and his family.
Magistrates imposed an immediate six-month jail term and a two-year restraining order.
“We find that this was a sophisticated, well planned and intentional series of deceptions designed to manipulate your victim,” said lead magistrate Christine Williams.
“You caused serious harm to your victim and his family, who are still grieving what to her was a genuine loss.”
