Couple conned in surrogacy scam

AN Oldham couple say they have been “scarred for life” after being taken in by a conwoman who promised to carry their child as a surrogate.

Louise Pollard (28) swindled Tony and Debbie Kaba out of thousands of pounds after promising to be a surrogate after hearing they wanted a second child.

The couple turned to the Surrogacy Finder website and were contacted by Pollard, who claimed to be pregnant after one session of artificial insemination in September 2012. Pollard sent a picture to the couple of a faked pregnancy test and forged a doctor’s letter. After the couple paid her £5,000 she broke contact. When the police contacted her she claimed to have miscarried.

Mrs Kaba (46) said: “We’re sickened that somebody could be so evil. She was playing us in the most cold and calculated way. We’re emotionally scarred for life.”

Pollard, from Plymouth, originally demanded £20,000 and a car but eventually agreed to £1,000 to be artificially inseminated and £4,000 once a doctor’s note confirmed the pregnancy.

Pollard also lied to a second couple who had been trying for a child for 12 years. She took more than £10,000 from them before saying she had been involved in a car accident and had lost the baby.

Jailing Pollard at Bristol Crown Court, Judge Graham Cottle said her “deliberate, sustained, callous acts” had left both families devastated. Pollard was jailed for three years and four months after admitting fraud at Bristol Crown Court.