30 months? Consecutive, or Cumulative?

Last summer, a woman was arrested at Gatwick Airport after she arrived from Nigeria with a very young baby girl. The woman had been living in West Yorkshire with her husband and children, and before leaving the UK for Africa had told her GP she was pregnant. That was not true.

A Nigerian lying? Surely not? What's she doing here, anyway? Turns out she's 'a careworker with leave to remain in Britain'. 

When the woman returned about a month later with the baby, she was arrested on suspicion of trafficking. The case, the second the BBC has followed through the Family Court in recent months, reveals what experts say is a worrying trend of babies possibly being brought to the UK unlawfully - some from so-called "baby factories" in Nigeria.

And what everyone else says is a worrying trend exacerbated by the employment of foreign nationals like 'Susan' in the UK.

She also claimed she'd been pregnant for up to 30 months with her other children.

I hope she means cumulatively...if not., perhaps she should be in London Zoo. 

Arriving back in the UK with the baby girl - who we're calling Eleanor - Susan was stopped and arrested by Sussex Police.

Miracles do happen. 

Ms Coker, who provides expert reports to family courts in cases like this, has nearly 30 years experience as a social worker. She trained in Britain, and worked in front-line child protection in London, before moving to Africa.

Job holder goes where the job is. 

The barrister for the local authority told the court that the baby is "very settled" with her foster carer, taking part in activities in her community and getting medical treatment. When Eleanor is adopted she will have a new identity and British nationality - but she may never know who her real parents are.

Why are we not sending the child straight back on the next plane? 

Ms Coker believes it is likely that more children have been brought unlawfully to the UK from West Africa. She told the BBC she has worked on around a dozen similar cases since the pandemic. In her experience, baby trafficking is commonplace.

Because it works - even when the police catch the importers, the child then gets to stay st British taxpayer's expense! This is invasion on a small scale.