Woman faces jail for fooling boyfriend into believing she was twice pregnant by faking miscarriage and death of a newborn, using a silicone baby bump and throwing a gender reveal party

A young woman has been ordered not to contact her ex-boyfriend and could be jailed after going to extraordinary lengths to convince him she was pregnant with twins that never existed.

Libby Vernon, 23, held a gender reveal party for her boyfriend and his family and wore a silicone baby bump in bid to fool them, a court heard.

She had already told him she was pregnant by an ‘abusive ex-partner’ when she began the online relationship with her new boyfriend from her home in Stoke-on-Trent in 2023.

But none of the pregnancies ever existed and prosecutors admitted they remained baffled as to her motives when she appeared at Warrington Magistrates Court. 

‘It’s something that we don’t come across all that often,’ barrister Pamela Fee told the magistrate.

Her new boyfriend was living in Cumbria but agreed to help her raise the ‘baby’ of her abusive ex.

She sent him a photo of a newborn with the words ‘someone wants to meet you’ and the man could see a cot in her room when they had a video call four days later.

But she later messaged him to say the baby had stopped breathing and doctors were carrying out CPR.

Days later sent him a fake death certificate for the ‘baby’, claiming it had died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

Vernon and her new boyfriend eventually met and began a sexual relationship, before she falsely told him she was pregnant with twins.

They were still living apart, and at one point during the ‘pregnancy’ she warned him that she was in pain before sending him a photo of a blood clot and claiming she had suffered a miscarriage.

But shortly afterwards she told him she had been ‘misdiagnosed’ and that she was still pregnant.

The couple then arranged a gender-reveal party for the boyfriend’s family in Cumbria.

The boyfriend told investigators Vernon looked obviously pregnant, but it later emerged that she had been wearing a silicone baby bump to simulate the shape of a pregnant woman.

The boyfriend’s relatives were convinced they were about to welcome twin boys into their family before Vernon called her boyfriend to tell him she was in pain and had gone to hospital.

He rushed to the hospital after she told him that medics had warned her the twin babies were no longer alive.

He demanded to see her but doctors at the hospital had no idea what he was talking about and said she had not been in.

The bizarre pretence fell apart after the ‘significantly distressed’ boyfriend confronted her and discovered that neither of the supposed pregnancies had ever existed.

Vernon was arrested and charged with sending communication conveying false information and of sending false communication with intent to cause harm.

But defence barrister Mike Woolaghan told the court that there were no guidelines in place for any of the offences Vernon had committed.

‘There is a risk that matters cross the custody threshold,’ he added.

‘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 admitted the offences along with a charge of sending a false certificate regarding registration of a birth or death.

But prosecutor Pamela Fee said more charges could yet be added to what is a ‘complex’ case.

‘It’s taken an awful lot of work,’ she explained.

Vernon was bailed with conditions not to enter Cumbria or to contact the victim by any means, and will return to the court for sentencing on March 19.