LONDON, England (AP) -- A British woman has pleaded guilty to selling her unborn baby to two couples over the Internet and arranging for a third to buy it as well.
Moira Greenslade, 33, from Keighley in northern England, got $4,500 after agreeing to give up her child to the couples she contacted though a surrogacy Web site.
Greenslade pleaded guilty at Leeds Crown Court to three charges of obtaining money by deception and three offenses under the Adoption Act. She was sentenced to two years in prison.
Judge Richard Henriques said Greenslade's behavior had undermined the role of the adoption services in this country.
"Those couples who desperately seek a child are frequently prepared to go to extraordinary ends to meet their ambitions," he said. "Their hopes and prayers render them vulnerable to opportunists and fraudsters such as yourself."
Prosecutors said that in February last year, Greenslade agreed to sell her baby for $16,000 to a Scottish couple, Mark and Michelle Johnson. They gave her an initial payment of $2,700.
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/05/21/britain.mother.ap/index.html
Moira Greenslade, 33, from Keighley in northern England, got $4,500 after agreeing to give up her child to the couples she contacted though a surrogacy Web site.
Greenslade pleaded guilty at Leeds Crown Court to three charges of obtaining money by deception and three offenses under the Adoption Act. She was sentenced to two years in prison.
Judge Richard Henriques said Greenslade's behavior had undermined the role of the adoption services in this country.
"Those couples who desperately seek a child are frequently prepared to go to extraordinary ends to meet their ambitions," he said. "Their hopes and prayers render them vulnerable to opportunists and fraudsters such as yourself."
Prosecutors said that in February last year, Greenslade agreed to sell her baby for $16,000 to a Scottish couple, Mark and Michelle Johnson. They gave her an initial payment of $2,700.
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/05/21/britain.mother.ap/index.html