Paternity test dad Vernon Poppleton used brother's DNA

A married man has admitted sending his brother to give a DNA sample in a bid to avoid child maintenance payments to the woman he was having an affair with.

Vernon Poppleton, 33, from Glasgow, fathered the child in 2009.

When the Child Support Agency got involved in February 2011, he sent his brother Victor to give a DNA sample along with passport photos.

The ruse was exposed when the mother saw the photos. Poppleton was told to carry out 240 hours of unpaid work.

At Glasgow Sheriff Court, Poppleton pleaded guilty to committing fraud by attempting to get immunity from paying child maintenance.

Sheriff Lindsay Wood imposed a community payback order with the conditions he will carry out the unpaid work within eight months and stay at his bail address between 21:00 and 05:00 for six months.

Sheriff Wood told Poppleton he had narrowly avoided going to jail.

He said: "Just and no more I am prepared to impose an alternative.

"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."

Defence lawyer Neil Kilcoyne told the court Poppleton is repaying money owed to the Child Support Agency and giving money to the girl's mother.

He said his client had served in the armed forces and suffered post traumatic stress when he returned from Afghanistan.

Poppleton's brother had his not guilty plea to assisting in the fraud accepted at an earlier hearing.