‘Ev il’ surrogate pretended to be pregnant, then said baby died in crash
A CALLOUS conwoman fooled a couple into thinking she was carrying their baby – before claiming it had died. Samantha Brown, 25, demanded more than £8,000 in expenses to act as a surrogate for Mark and Benita Cutter, who were desperate for a child.
Brown agreed to carry their baby, but lied about falling pregnant, sent them ultrasound scans taken from the internet and demanded money for maternity clothes and travel to antenatal classes.
When the scam was set to be exposed, near her supposed due date, she claimed to have been seriously injured in a car crash and sent the couple a picture of a ‘dead’ baby boy she claimed was their son.
Brown’s con began in 2013, when the Cutters placed an advert on the internet asking for a surrogate to carry a child for them.
When unemployed Brown responded, the couple travelled 450 miles from their home in Hull to Tain, Ross-shire, where she claimed to have artificially inseminated herself over four days of trying.
She told them she was pregnant with their child, agreeing to receive expenses until the baby was born.
Last night, as Brown faced jail over her callous con, her former partner branded her actions ‘evil’.
Karen Galashan, also from Tain, said: ‘To think she lied to this couple and told them their baby had died, it really upsets me – it sickens me.
Miss Galashan, 44, was also charged with fraud, but the charges were dropped because of insufficient evidence. She added: ‘I have no idea what was going through her head, I can’t understand what she was thinking. I think what she did was very evil. My heart just goes out to the parents.’
Brown pleaded guilty to fraud at Inverness Sheriff Court last week.
Roderick Urquhart, prosecuting, said: ‘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.
‘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 antenatal classes etc.
‘The demands for money increased with the passage of time, with Brown claiming that she was losing wages as a result of being pregnant.
‘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 couple became suspicious because the baby in the photograph appeared to be sleeping, and the material wrapped around it did not look like it had come from a hospital. When they contacted the hospital Brown was supposed to be in, it had no record of her, and they reported the fraudster to the police.
The Cutters did not want to speak about Brown yesterday, but Miss Galashan, who is now in a new relationship with a male partner, said: ‘Sam told me she wanted a baby and I told her I would help her through a pregnancy. I thought, when I met the couple, they were there to provide a donor.
‘When the police came to see me, I didn’t know what to do. I asked them to pass on a message to Mark and Benita, to tell them I had no idea what was going on and that my heart goes out to them.’
Sheriff Margaret Neilson deferred Brown’s sentencing until February 12 for background reports.
‘Anguish and despair’