Written by Lisa Murimi
She arrived at Gatwick Airport in her arms—tiny, wide-eyed, voiceless. But baby Eleanor’s beginning, like too many others, hides a brutal truth.
Last summer, a woman known as Susan was arrested returning from Nigeria with a newborn she claimed was hers.
She had told her GP she was pregnant. She wasn’t. DNA tests proved Eleanor was not her child. Twice.
Susan changed her story—first denying the truth, then producing forged documents and disturbing hospital photos meant to deceive.
An investigation uncovered messages to a contact saved as “Mum Oft Lagos Baby,” requesting hospital items and payment for a “delivery drug.” The implication was chilling: a baby purchased, not born.
Social worker Henrietta Coker traced Susan’s story back to a grim flat in Nigeria where supposed nurses were teenagers and delivery rooms were kitchens.
The clinic had no records. The birth certificate was fake. The doctor admitted: “Yes, someone gave birth… but it wasn’t her.”
No one knows who Eleanor’s real mother is.
The Family Court found Susan and her husband had orchestrated a lie so elaborate it risked destroying a child’s identity forever. They were not Eleanor’s parents. Their deception, the judge said, caused her “significant emotional and psychological harm.”
Now safe with foster carers, Eleanor will be adopted. She will grow up with a new name, a new life—but without answers. Without truth.
Susan cried, pleaded for Eleanor back. But the court was clear: Love is not ownership. Parenthood is not deception.
And Eleanor? She’s only a baby. But her stolen start is a reminder: in the shadows of hope, some children are being trafficked—not cherished.
This is not just a story. It’s a warning.
