Twisted mum who pretended she was pregnant for nine months before kidnapping a baby is caged for two years
Jilted girlfriend faked her own pregnancy in an effort to win her ex-boyfriend back
THE single mum who faked her own pregnancy for nine months before snatching another woman's nine-week-old baby has been jailed for two years.
Kelly Mahon, 41, tried to pull of the elaborate plot to convince her ex-boyfriend it was theirs in an effort to win him back.
The calculating baby-snatcher took the boy after stalking its heavily pregnant mother in the weeks before his birth.
Mahon even chatted with the mum at a bus stop and struck up a conversation about the youngster prior to taking him.
On the day of the kidnapping Mahon went to the home of the Ghanaian mum and told her that her boyfriend had been mowed down in a horrific car accident.
Related stories
She then offered to look after her kids while the devastated mum sprinted off to find her supposedly injured boyfriend.
The woman arrived at the scene where it meant to have happened and quickly realised she had been lied to.
A nationwide police hunt was launched after the baby was snatched on February 24 this year, and the search for the missing tot attracted almost immediate national press attention.
The youngster was found at Mahon's home less than a mile away three hours later.
Shocked police officers found boys and girls baby clothes as well as cots when they searched her terraced house.
Mahon confessed to the kidnap when she appeared at Shrewsbury Crown Court in March, and was told by a judge to expect a prison sentence.
She has also undergone psychological tests after the botched baby-snatch and the elaborate lie she told her friends and family.
Pals claimed Mahon even told her teenager daughter she was pregnant, before snatching the baby, who cannot be named for legal reasons, on her fake due date.
Her ex-boyfriend Dwight Dennis, a lab technician, said: "The lengths she went to were astonishing. She even kept asking me to feel her stomach to 'touch our babies'."
Mahon had told Mr Dennis she was expecting twins after he ended their eight-year on-and-off relationship last summer.
She then plotted to snatch two black or mixed race babies, Shrewsbury Crown Court heard.
Single mum Mahon "deliberately sought out" her victim after months spinning a web lies of by faking pregnancy tests and scans.
Baby's parents talk of 'worst nightmare' after kidnapping
The snatched tot's mum and dad released the following statement after Mahon was sentenced
"Our son is a beautiful, healthy and happy boy. He is very loving and is developing a distinct personality of his own. We cannot express our delight and utter relief that he was returned to us safe and well. When we realised he was gone, we have never felt an emotion like it before. We hope no parents ever feel the way I felt that day. What happened is every parent's worst nightmare and the reality is worse than you can ever imagine. While he was missing, we cannot explain how we felt. The thought that our practically newborn son was alone, frightened and in a strange place with someone he did not know is indescribable. It was hard not to imagine the worst in that sort of situation. We both felt sick. It was impossible to think straight. We just wanted to be out there looking for him ourselves. We are glad everything is over and resolved. We want to get back to normal and be together as a family. We are looking forward to moving on; putting this behind us and watching our son grow up. We cannot put into words how grateful we are to West Mercia Police for bringing our baby back to us. We are forever thankful for their hard work. We would also like to thank everyone who called the police to share information on who took our baby. This was incredibly brave and you helped bring him home safely to us. Thank you to everyone who shared the appeal, both the public and the media. Thank you to everyone for their kind thoughts and comments."
When Mahon appeared in the dock in March she stared at the baby boy's parents who were sat in the public gallery.
In an earlier magistrates' court hearing it was heard Mahon had visited the family's street before executing the snatch, which left the baby's mum "hysterical" and "beside herself".
Prosecutor Kelly Crowe told magistrates that the mum had been fooled into thinking "her husband had been in a road traffic accident and was lying unconscious".
She said: "When she got to the location she finds her husband isn't there and there is no road traffic accident.
"This defendant has said I will watch you children while you tend to your husband
"When she (the mum) gets back the nine-week child is missing
"This was a pre-planned kidnap.
"Clearly she sought the victim."
Speaking after Mahon had pleased guilty, Judge Robin Onions said: "I don't begin to understand what the parents been through but clearly it's a very serious offence which has caused enormous upset.
"It's inevitable you will receive a custodial sentence of some length."