A con-woman pretended to be a surrogate mother for a desperate couple as part of a “callous” scheme to pocket more than £8,000.
Samantha Brown promised to help Benita and Mark Cutter complete the family they had always dreamed of by being their paid surrogate.
But the 25-year-old did not even fall pregnant – and concocted a cynical scheme that lasted for nearly a year, costing the couple more than £8,000 in maternity and baby clothes, travel expenses and even rent.
Heartless Brown, from Tain, sent the Humberside-based couple generic baby scans and gave them regular updates of her ante-natal classes and hospital appointments.
But when she started nearing what would have been her due date, she went to extreme measures to get out of the deal, inventing a serious car crash and sending the Cutters a picture of a “dead” child to convince them their son had been stillborn.
At Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday, Brown admitted fraud and inducing the Cutters to pay her a total of £8,307 in fake expenses over a 10-month period between June 25, 2013 and April 20, 2014.
Fiscal Roderick Urquhart told the court the couple had married four years ago, but were unable to have children. However, Mrs Cutter has two teenage children that she adopted during her previous marriage.
He said: “Everything else had been tried by the couple and surrogacy was their last option. It appears they were desperate for a child and perhaps consequently were a little gullible.
“They came into contact with Brown via an advert they had placed on the internet seeking the assistance of a surrogate. Brown offered her services and in due course the Cutters travelled to Tain where they met both Brown and her then partner.”
The Cutters stayed at Brown’s address at 122 Mansefield Estate, Tain, from July 28-31 during which time the attempts to conceive took place.
Mr Urquhart continued: “Brown and her partner would enter a bedroom together with a sample and a syringe and claim to be attempting to artificially inseminate.
“It was agreed that Brown would be recompensed by the Cutters for her out of pocket expenses and, over the coming months, they paid £8,307 into her bank account, having been assured by Brown that the insemination process had been a success and that she was pregnant with their child.
“As the ‘pregnancy’ progressed the Cutters were sent what purported to be scan images of the unborn child and were told of Brown’s visits to ante-natal classes etc. At a later stage, when suspicions were raised, Mark Cutter re-examined the images and was able to establish that they had originally come from Getty images.
The couple eventually contacted the police after receiving an image of their “dead” son, which Brown’s partner sent them shortly after telling them she had been in a car crash.
The court heard that throughout the deceitful scheme, the Cutters paid rent to stay at Brown’s home she claimed was her holiday flat; took her on a day trip to Loch Ness; gave money for fictitious maternity clothes and travel costs for hospital appoints; and covered the unemployed fraudster’s loss of earnings.
But Mr Urquhart told the court: “It would appear that the financial loss incurred by the Cutters paled almost into insignificance compared with the heartbreak, anguish and despair they suffered when they realised not only that they were not to become parents, but that they had been the victims of a calculated and callous fraud.”
Brown had originally appeared with a co-accused, 44-year-old Karen Galashan, but the charges against her were dropped due to insufficient evidence.
Sheriff Margaret Neilson deferred sentence until February 12 for a background report on Brown – who was jailed last year for shooting her neighbour in the head with an air rifle over a row about gulls.
Alarm bells
Alarm bells started ringing with Benita and Mark Cutter when they received messages claiming Samantha Brown was in hospital after a car crash around her due-date.
The texts told the frantic couple that Brown was in an induced coma, before eventually telling them their child had died – and sending them a picture to prove it.
But Inverness Sheriff Court heard yesterday that the pair became suspicious, as the child looked like it was sleeping, and began checking out her story.
Fiscal depute Roderick Urquhart said: “On April 18, 2014, at what would have been the end of the pregnancy, the Cutters received text messages purporting to be from Brown’s partner but on Brown’s phone, stating that Brown had been in a car crash, that she was in an induced coma and eventually that the child was dead.
“They were later sent a photo of what they were told was their dead son.
“The Cutters thought that the child in the photograph looked asleep, rather than dead, and the material in which it was wrapped did not look like hospital issue.”
Mr Urquhart added that the dubious Cutters contacted the hospital Brown was supposed to be in – only to learn that they had no record of her.
The matter was reported, first to Humberside Police, then Police Scotland.
Mr Urquhart added: “It was established that all the Cutters had been told was false: Brown had never been pregnant; she had not attended any ante-natal classes; had not been in a car crash; had not delivered a dead child; had not lost any wages; and had not incurred the expenses she had claimed and obtained from the Cutters.
“It should be noted that as well as the ‘expenses’ paid to Brown, the Cutters had incurred other costs in anticipation of having a child.
“They had also told Mrs Cutter’s other children about the surrogate pregnancy and they also had been looking forward to having a sibling.
“It would appear that the financial loss incurred by the Cutters paled almost into insignificance compared with the heartbreak, anguish and despair they suffered when they realised not only that they were not to become parents, but that they had been the victims of a calculated and callous fraud.”
Lengthy charge
At Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday, Brown admitted a lengthy charge.
She admitted that, while acting with another, she pretended to Benita and Mark Cutter that as a result of a surrogacy agreement, she was pregnant with their child.
She also told the couple she worked at the Royal Hotel in Tain and Inverness and that she had a holiday flat on Mansfield Estate, Tain.
The charge states that Brown also told the couple that as a result of the pregnancy, she had to repeatedly attend Raigmore Hospital in Inverness for scans – and that she incurred travel expenses and loss of earnings in doing so – and that she was repeatedly admitted to hospital as a result of complications.
She further told the pair that she required maternity wear, and that she had to give up work as a result of the pregnancy so had incurred financial loss in relation to her earnings.
Brown also told them she had been involved in a serious road accident, and that their baby was had to be delivered by emergency cesearen section as a result – but that he was delivered still born. An image of the “dead” child was then sent to the couple.
The unemployed fraudster admitted the pretences had been made to entice Mr and Mrs Cutter to travel to Scotland and pay rent for their stay at Mansfield Estate, to pay travel expenses for fictitious hospital appointments, and to contribute her loss of earnings, maternity clothing and accessories, and that she had obtained £8,307 by fraud.
The offences happened at Parkland Place, Balintore, and Ross-shire, Tain, Inverness and elsewhere between June 25, 2013 and April 20, 2014.