Dad faked paternity test with his uncle’s DNA to avoid shelling out £18k child maintenance payments for his son

A DAD faked a paternity test with his uncle's DNA to avoid forking out £18,000 in child maintenance payments for his son.

The parent duped a doctor by sneaking out to his car to carry out the test after claiming he was not the three-year-old's father.

He got his uncle, who thought the procedure was for a work matter, to do a cheek swab for him.

The test then came back revealing the dad, who can't be named, was not the boy's biological father, reports.

His deceit was only uncovered when the toddler's mum challenged the result and a new swab was taken following the dad's arrest.

He pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation at Bexley Magistrates' Court but swerved jail.

The man was instead handed a 12-month community order, which includes 200 hours community service work and 15 days of a rehabilitation activity requirement.

The court was told he managed to avoid paying a total of £18,479.41 towards his son's care.

This meant the mum was left struggling to cope and was forced to skip meals to save money.

In a victim impact statement, she said: "The incident affected me in so many ways.

"I was on holiday when I got the call saying my son was not his and I was shocked.

"I felt he had overall control and was trying to get out of payment and when the news came through I was gutted and upset, but knew something had been tampered with.

"I had to get the right result for my son. It was a huge weight off my shoulders.

"When the payments stopped I struggled a lot and knew I should not be in this position.

"I had to tighten the purse strings and sometimes just had a cup of tea or coffee instead of a meal so my children could eat."

Tessa Donovan, defending, said her client made an "extremely poor decision" and "panicked" over the money.

JPs heard he is now paying £680 per month to cover current payments and the arrears.

The dad was also ordered to pay a £114 victim surcharge and £85 costs.