Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
GRIEVING FAMILY ROCKED BY BABY LIE
Sick fantasist told murdered teen’s relatives he had fathered her child
The heartbroken gran of teenage murder victim Connor Cowper says she was “robbed of something to hold on to” when a warped fantasist duped her grieving family into believing he had fathered her baby.
Janet Fraser says Chapelhall teen Connor’s ex-girlfriend cruelly provided photos of the baby to convince them it was his, after the 18-year-old, right, was stabbed to death by teenager Jolene Doherty at a house party in April 2018.
But Janet was shattered to discover the whole story was a lie – after finding out that his ex had carried out the same scam on another dead man’s family.
Janet , 60, from Chapelha l l , said: “She said she was pregnant with a son to Connor not long after he was buried.
“We were speaking and she said, ‘I’ll send you a photo of Connor’s son’.
“She sent me a big canvas picture of her holding a baby, saying it was my greatgrandson.
“When I saw the photo I believed it was our Connor’s and I thought there was something to hold on to.
“It ’s bad enough our Connor getting murdered without us going through this as well.”
Relatives of a teenage murder victim from Chapelhall have told how they were duped into thinking he’d fathered a baby by a fantasist – who pulled the same con on another grieving family.
Connor Cowper’s loved ones say his ex- girlfriend, who we have decided not to name, told them she was having his baby after his brutal murder.
She provided photos of the baby to convince them it was his after the 18-yearold was stabbed to death by a pregnant teenager at a party in Holytown two years ago.
But rel atives were shattered to discover the whole story was a lie – after finding out his ex had carried out the same scam on another dead man’s family.
The Advertiser’s sister paper the Daily Record has seen a series of messages sent to Connor’s family and to the sister of an Inverclyde teenager who died years ago.
In both cases, the 23-yearold woman tries to convince the families their loved one had fathered a child with her.
The heartbroken families say they finally learned the truth last month when they became aware of each other on social media and were contacted by strangers warning them about her.
When a reporter from the Record contacted the woman, she confirmed she did not have children by the men but denied intentionally misleading the families.
Connor’s gran Janet Fraser told how she had clung to the hope of having a lasting piece of her grandson, who was murdered by 17- year- old Jolene Doherty in April 2018.
Janet, 60, from Chapelhall, said: “She said she was pregnant with a son to Connor not long after he was buried. She got in contact with me and my daughter, Linda. Connor was murdered in the April and she said she’d had Connor’s baby in the September.
“We were speaking and she said, ‘ I’ll send you a photo of Connor’s son’. She sent me a big canvas picture of her holding a baby, saying it was my great-grandson.”
Breaking down in tears, Janet added: “When I saw the photo, I believed it was our Connor’s and I thought there was something to hold on to.”
Doherty – one of Scotland’s youngest female murderers – barely knew
Connor when she plunged a blade into his neck while pregnant and high on cocaine and booze.
The thug, of Wishaw, was jailed for a minimum of 16 years last year.
Janet – who Connor called his “second mum” – said: “This girl knew how close I was to my Connor. She even phoned asking if I wanted to go to the christening. But when I phoned the venue, they said there was no christening that day.
“I had the police out at the house and they took her number and phoned her. She told them she had a baby boy and they said there was nothing they could do. I haven’t spoken to her since.
“It’s bad enough Connor getting murdered without us going through this as well.”
Connor’s mum Linda, 38, described the woman as
“evil”, saying she had been sent a 4D scan addressed “to gran and grandpa, from bump” after her son’s death.
She said: “They split up just before Connor died. The things she said were all lies. There were doubts in my head from day one. She knew I wasn’t stupid and that’s when she got her claws into my mum.”
Last month, the family was horrified to see a Facebook post claiming the same woman had targeted another family from Greenock.
Linda said: “It all came out in April. So many people were messaging me telling me about her. I was quite overwhelmed. It took me two years to solve the mystery but when we got closure, we felt the door could be shut and Connor could rest in peace.”
When the Record contacted Connor’s ex, she admitted making contact with both families but denied telling them the kids in the pictures were related to them.
Claiming to be a mum-offour, she said: “I don’t know where these allegations have come from.”
When the Record told her it had seen messages discussing the children, she said: “If I say I’ve got a child, that doesn’t automatically mean it’s her brother’s. I don’t have anything to say. You’ve got to think of it from my point of view and the repercussions that can happen to me.”