Libby Vernon, 23, faked the death of a newborn baby as well as two pregnancies – her partner has been left ‘struggling emotionally’ after realising ‘everything was a lie’
A young woman has been jailed after faking the death of a newborn baby as well as faking being pregnant with twins while wearing a silicone bump.
She managed to convince her partner that she was having twin boys – and the couple even had a gender reveal party. Libby Vernon, 23, met the victim online and the pair were in a long distance relationship. She first claimed she was pregnant with twins by an “abusive ex-partner”. Workington Magistrates’ Court heard the couple agreed that Vernon would move to Cumbria – where the victim lived – and they would raise the children together.
She then claimed she had lost one of the babies, but said the other was fine as she had a rare condition meaning she has two uteruses. When the couple met in person she was “showing signs of pregnancy” – but the victim never saw her get undressed at any point because Vernon was “self-conscious” about how she looked.
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In December 2023, Vernon sent a photo of a newborn baby and further images of a baby in a car seat and in a cot. But four days after the birth, Vernon was on a video call with the victim, who could see a cot in the room, when she suddenly shouted ‘Athena’ in panic and ended the call.
She then sent messages to the victim, saying the baby had stopped breathing and died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and even provided a photo of a death certificate. Vernon then told the victim she was pregnant with twins but later sent him a photo of a blood clot and said she was losing the pregnancy.
She provided a NHS letter to confirm the miscarriage but then said she had actually been misdiagnosed and the pregnancy continued, prosecutor Pamela Fee said. Vernon said she asked for the babies’ genders to be put in an envelope at the scan and the victim’s family believed the couple were welcoming twin boys after it was announced at a gender reveal party. Vernon even agreed with the victim that they would call the twins Ollie and Tommy – after his grandfather.
She returned to Cumbria in June 2024 but the victim’s family members suggested her bump “didn’t look right” and that she should go to hospital in the morning. Vernon claimed she had been to A&E but thought she had lost the babies so panicked and went home. The victim went to the hospital, found Vernon outside and made demands to go into the hospital – where he discovered that she hadn’t been on the maternity ward. It was found she was wearing a fake baby bump and was not pregnant – and that the original pregnancy and baby had never existed either, Ms Fee said.
Ms Fee said Vernon was ‘very good at lying’ and each time doubt crept into the victim’s mind, she would convince him otherwise. The victim had moved out of his mother’s house and got his own property, which he prepared and decorated for his future family. The couple had bought baby clothes and a twin pram. Following Vernon’s arrest, she spoke to the victim over the phone where she acted like they were getting back together and even laughed about what had happened. A statement from the victim, which was read to the court, said he had been “really struggling emotionally” thinking that the twins should have been born by now.
It read: “Everything was a lie. She also told me she lied about her mum having cancer, she was sacked from the nursery she worked at and was seeing other people while we were together. I want her to understand what she has done. I have been feeling really done. Once it got to October, when the twins would have been due, I’ve been really struggling emotionally. I have been so low thinking they were supposed to be here.
“I can’t understand why she would do this. The fact that she can be, so nonchalant about it, the fact she can laugh about it on the phone, it just hurts me more. It goes round my head, I start thinking about what she did and about the babies that aren’t here. I know they were never real but they are to me. It’s one thing to get over the fact that I’ve been lied to in a relationship but a whole different thing to grieve the loss of children that never existed.”
Mike Woolaghan, defending, told the court that Vernon’s behaviour was “bizarre at best and weird at worst”. He said: “It’s clear the defendant struggles to understand and comprehend the what and why of what she has done. Since the point of detection, it seems she made full and frank admissions. During the course of meetings with the probation service, she expresses remorse and apologises to the victim and his extended family for the hurt that has been caused.
“The defendant has to begin a process of reflection and engage with community-based agencies. She has contacted the NHS and is on a waiting list for talking therapies. She’s had contact with her GP and has been diagnosed with anxiety and depression. She was a lady of previous good character. She’s never troubled the criminal justice system before.”
During a police interview, Vernon said she and the victim discovered she was pregnant in February 2024 after she had a positive test. She said she started to bleed a few days later and didn’t know how to tell the victim so ‘got caught in a web of lies’. She said she got fake ultrasound scans from Google and would doctor these using a word app to add her name.
She said she had a fake bump she had ordered from eBay, then would put a bodysuit over to smooth it and put a t-shirt down to make it bigger as the pregnancy progressed. Vernon previously 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 one charge of sending a false certificate regarding registration of a birth or death.
Vernon, of Werrington, Stoke-on-Trent, was jailed for six months and a restraining order was granted which bans her from having contact with the victim for two years. Passing sentence, lead magistrate Christine Williams said: “We find this was sophisticated, well planned, an international series of deceptions designed to manipulate your victim. You have caused serious harm to the victim and his family, to what was to them, a genuine loss.”
