Scottish man sent brother to paternity test to avoid child maintenance

A married man, Mr Poppleton had an affair with another woman who then gave birth to his daughter in 2009.

The attempt to falsely mislead the Child Support Agency and his child’s mother was only discovered when the latter party saw the photos of the man who had taken the paternity test at the clinic.

After pleading guilty to committing fraud at Glasgow Sheriff Court, Mr Poppleton was ordered to carry out 240 hours of unpaid community work within a period of eight months.

The court heard that the father was almost given a prison sentence for his crime, and an additional condition was attached to his non-custodial sentence which means that he must be at his bail address between the hours of 21:00 and 05:00 for a period of six months.

Sheriff Lindsay Wood, presiding over the case, said: “What you did here and what you got your brother to do was so wrong on so many levels.

“Not only have you distressed your then wife, you have also distressed the mother of your daughter and done a complete disservice to your daughter.

“You were doing this so that your wife didn’t find out. This is a conniving act on your part, to present someone else’s DNA – but you were found out and rightly so.”

Mr Poppleton has reportedly been repaying the money he owes to the Child Support Agency and giving money to his daughter’s mother.

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