'Miracle baby' was victim of child traffickers, says judge

She said her child was a gift from God, but yesterday a High Court judge ruled that the "miracle child" born to an infertile woman had been the victim of a baby-trafficking operation.

She said her child was a gift from God, but yesterday a High Court judge ruled that the "miracle child" born to an infertile woman had been the victim of a baby-trafficking operation.

The child, who is now about 12 months old, is one of a number of children supposedly born through the miraculous intervention of the London-based self-styled archbishop Gilbert Deya. He is wanted in Kenya over allegations that he has trafficked more than 20 children from clinics in the slums of Nairobi.

The child, referred to by Mr Justice Ryder as "C", was one of three apparently born to a member of Mr Deya's religious movement. Baby C was taken into care after tests revealed that his DNA did not match either of his alleged parents who had flown to Nairobi last year for the birth in a back-street clinic attended by Mr Deya's wife.

Mary Deya was arrested by Nairobi police in September as part of an investigation into 20 so-called "miracle babies". Kenya has applied for Mr Deya to be extradited, but he has remained in Britain.

Mr Justice Ryder, who heard the case in private, decided to make a public statement to try to prevent a recurrence of what he called a "cruel deception" and to try to trace the birth parents of the baby. "This is a case about a young boy who is believed to be just one year old. I shall call him 'C'. Although he was given a name in a religious ceremony, he does not have a true identity: that was stolen from him by a cruel deception perpetrated by adults who are involved in international child trafficking. Their motive is simple, one of the most base of human avarices: financial greed." He said the child was at risk, and indicated that he would remain in local authority care.

Outside the court, Mr Deya said the judgment was "a discrimination of faith" and that he would appeal against the ruling.

Mr Deya has been based in London since 1996. Since then he has built one of Britain's fastest-growing religious movement, the Gilbert Deya Ministries, with branches in Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester. He also has at least two large homes in Kenya and is pictured on his website with a liveried aircraft.

His followers, thought to number up to 36,000, are said to donate a "tithe", or 10 per cent of their earnings, to the movement. The Charity Commission has frozen the movement's bank accounts pending a full investigation of Deya Ministries' business affairs.

Mr Deya claims to be able to help infertile and post-menopausal women to conceive through the power of prayer. The women are understood to then travel to Kenya to have their babies. A number of families have come forward to claim babies presently in the care of the Kenyan authorities.

Mrs E, who is 38, told thejudge her "miracle births" in Nairobi. She said she had been in severe pain before being taken to a clinic by Mrs Deya, where she had been examined by a man she was told was a doctor. He had given her an injection and after 20 minutes of labour she had given birth. She could not see the moment of birth because of her position on a stretcher.