Pregnant mother who falsified newborn's DNA test is jailed

A mother who falsified a DNA test and lied on her newborn baby's birth certificate in a 'spiteful' bid to stop the biological father seeing his children was today jailed.

A judge ruled that 'manipulative' psychology graduate Georgina Saville tried to use the fact she is expecting to escape going to prison.

But she was sentenced to almost three years after the judge said she had 'knowingly' conceived following her conviction, having been warned she would be facing jail.

Judge Peter Henry said her attempt to 'thwart' the course of justice kept her ex-partner Kyle Fitton, 28, from seeing his young children for 15 months.

A trial found Saville guilty of editing a picture of a DNA test she found online to say her new boyfriend was actually the father of her baby, rather than Mr Fitton.

The 25-year-old - who has a Masters' degree in forensic psychology - told officers investigating the case that 'biology didn't mean anything' and has continued to show no remorse for her actions.

In an unusual turn of events, Southampton Crown Court, Hampshire, heard Saville is now six weeks pregnant.

Sentencing her today, Judge Henry said: 'It seems to me that you were far from showing any acknowledgement of wrong doing, you were very far from showing any sort of remorse of what happened.

'Instead, you came across as vengeful.'

Judge Henry continued: '[The offence] wasn't particularly sophisticated in its operation but it was an attempt by you to mislead the court.

'It seems to me that you were fully aware that the [false test] would be used in court proceedings and the intention here was to thwart the proper course of justice within the family court proceedings.'

He said Saville was fuelled by 'revenge' and a 'background of hostility' between the couple did not lower her culpability.

'[Mr Fitton] was kept from his children and they were kept from him and that went on for some time.'

Holly Fagan, mitigating on Saville's behalf, tried to argue that the mother's pregnancy presents a number of 'challenges' for her in a custodial setting.

'There's always an exception when it comes to the law and I submit that this is an exceptional case where a suspended sentence should be imposed,' she said.

However, the judge rejected this plea.

'You are pregnant but it's quite clear that you became pregnant, knowing that you were facing a sentence for this matter and knowing that the court had warned you that custody was very much on the cards,' he said.

Judge Henry sentenced her to 32 months in jail and said she will have to pay a victim surcharge.

The court heard that Saville has not seen her other children in 'almost a year' through 'her choice'.

She hung her head as the judge delivered her verdict.

Speaking after Saville's conviction, Mr Fitton said the ordeal he was put through by his scheming ex-partner left him 'broken'.

The father said he didn't get to meet his daughter until she 15 months old which 'killed' him and said hearing her refer to Mr Mellows as 'daddy' left him in 'pieces'.

'I knew she was not Danny's from day one,' he said.

'It was quite frustrating - she was almost doing that to get at me. I knew from day one [the baby] was mine.

'I knew from that point, I had to fight this, I had to fight for the truth. I knew she was mine and I had to prove this just to get the truth.'

Mr Fitton said the legal battle had 'broken me financially, emotionally and physically'.

'This is something no man or woman should ever have to go through,' he added.

In September this year, Saville was convicted of perverting the course of justice and wilfully making a false declaration as to a birth.

The four-day trial, at Southampton Crown Court, heard Saville and Mr Fitton welcomed their first baby daughter in March 2019, before things began to 'deteriorate'.

Their second daughter was born in January 2022 but cruel Saville did not 'permit' Mr Fitton to see her. He was living with his mother Jayne, who acted as mediator.

She sent a text to his mother saying: 'I'm sorry I just need to make sure [the girls] are treated fairly as they are full blood sisters.

'He can't be present in [one of their lives] but not in [the other]'s - it's not fair [one] having a dad and [the other] not. Therefore the only way it's fair is he is completely gone.'

In February 2022, she left the name of the father section blank on the birth certificate at the Registry Office.

She posted photos of the two girls and her new boyfriend online 'as if they were a family' and had even been encouraging the older girl to call her new boyfriend Danny Mellows 'daddy'.

In March 2022, Saville applied for a non-molestation order against Mr Fitton, who filed his own back at her.

He also started legal proceedings in the Family Court regarding access to his two children and getting his name added to the newborn's birth certificate.

After Mr Fitton's lawyer requested that Saville have a DNA test carried out, she claimed he wasn't the father and sent over a fake DNA test that claimed Mr Mellows was the father.

In July 2022, another DNA test was ordered at Family Court which found Mr Fitton to be the father, after Saville admitted she had 'falsified' the previous test result.

Saville also went back to the Registry Office, to amend the birth certificate to show Mr Mellows was the father - which they both signed.

After being arrested, the court heard Saville told officers 'biology didn't mean anything' and that she'd provided a 'made-up' DNA test to 'save herself some cost' and get Mr Fitton 'off my back'.

She threatened to remove Mr Fitton from the birth certificate of their first child and texted him saying he wouldn't see her or his children 'ever again' and that he should take her to court.

Opening the trial, Mr Tucker added: 'It's plain she knew perfectly well Kyle Fitton was in fact the father.

'She provided a document which she knew to misrepresent [her child]'s paternity.

'She sought to mislead him and his solicitor and, if taken at face value, that test result might have deterred him from pursuing the proceedings any further.

'We say this was a spiteful and calculated attempt to derail his case by dishonest means.

'What she did was misleading because she made a positive assertion Danny was the father.'