Former stockbroker awarded €32,500 damages for paternity ‘deceit’
A judge in London ruled that the woman, 46, had made “fraudulent representations” to him over the paternity of the child.
John Blofeld awarded the 63-year-old former stockbroker just over £22,400 — which included £7,500 (€11,000) to compensate him for the distress he suffered when he discovered the boy was not his.
The man at the centre of the case — who said that finding out he was not the biological father when the child was five broke his heart and caused him to be “eaten by despair” — had sued the woman for around £100,000 (€148,000).
But the judge rejected parts of his claim for the return of sums paid out for the boy during their “loving” relationship, including nursery fees.
Both the woman and her former partner, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were present in court as the judge delivered his ruling.
Mr Blofeld said he rejected the evidence of the woman, known as B, and accepted that of the man, who can only be referred to as A.
He said: “Having accepted A’s evidence and rejected B’s I have no difficulty in finding that representations were made on a large number of occasions and were untrue and when they were made they were fraudulent.”
The court heard how the man and woman met in 1996 when they were both working in the city. The boy, referred to as Y, was born in 1997 and A said that it was not until 2002 that the “brutal truth was made known to me”.
It was the mother’s case that she had no reason to believe A was not the father, and had not deliberately pulled the wool over his eyes.
The court heard that in her mind, A was the father and she was upset when she found out as a result of a DNA test that he was not.
But Mr Blofeld ruled: “I have come to the conclusion that it is impossible for me to accept B as a witness of truth.”
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